ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Affordable Warmth Programme

John Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of measures to compensate householders who suffer faulty work under the Affordable Warmth Obligation.

Edward Davey: ECO has a range of consumer protection mechanisms in place. Where applicable, installers must be registered gas safe and adhere to industry standards, including PAS2030 and building regulations.
	The scheme administrator, Ofgem, requires 5% of measures to undergo independent technical monitoring. Where failures are found, suppliers are required to remedy this and correct faulty work. Technical monitoring results are published online at:
	https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/energy-companies-obligation-eco-technical-monitoring-report-%E2%80%93-june-2014
	In addition, consumers can of course access the usual consumer protection routes such as Trading Standards.
	Consumer protection is an important aspect of any energy efficiency scheme and we continue to assess the controls that are in place. For example, we have recently consulted on the warranty provisions under ECO Affordable Warmth. We will announce the outcome of that consultation shortly.

Affordable Warmth Programme

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate his Department has made of the number of households in fuel poverty that are eligible for assistance under the affordable warmth component of the Energy Company Obligation.

Edward Davey: As set out in the ECO Assessment of Impacts, published in March 2014, the number of households that meet the eligibility criteria for Affordable Warmth is estimated to be 3.4 million. There is a strong correlation between the characteristics of fuel poor households (under all of the definitions of fuel poverty currently used in Great Britain) and the eligibility criteria for support help under ECO Affordable Warmth.
	By the end of April 2014, Affordable Warmth had delivered over 334,000 heating and energy efficiency measures to low-income and vulnerable households. This has provided valuable support to many households who are at risk of being in fuel poverty, including the elderly, disabled and low income families.

Climate Change: Northern Ireland

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent engagement the Committee on Climate Change has carried out with organisations and individuals in Northern Ireland to promote understanding and inform debate on climate change and its effects.

Amber Rudd: On 4 and 5 December 2013, the Committee’s chairman Lord Deben and Dr Ute Collier from the CCC Secretariat visited Belfast to meet with a range of organisations to discuss climate change policy.
	In addition, members of the CCC Secretariat are in regular contact with officials from the Department of Environment.

Climate Change: Seas and Oceans

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent assessment his Department has made of the effect of climate change on global sea levels.

Edward Davey: The most recent assessment of the effect of climate change on global sea level rise comes from the Working Group I contribution to the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report, which states that over the period 1901 to 2010 global mean sea level rose by 0.19 (0.17 to 0.21) metres, that since the mid-19th century, the rate of sea level rise has been larger than the mean rate over the previous two millennia and that it is very likely that there has been a substantial contribution to the global mean sea level rise since the 1970s from the effects of human activity.

Electricity Generation

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the status is of the useful indication of 2.4-4 GWp large-scale solar PV range set out in the electricity market reform delivery plan; and when he will next review the indicative ranges for all technologies set out in that plan.

Amber Rudd: The indicative deployment range for large scale solar PV published in the electricity market reform (EMR) delivery plan remains at 2.4-4 GWp.
	We plan to reassess likely deployment ranges for all low carbon technologies in the 2015 annual update to the EMR delivery plan.

Energy Company Obligation: Fuel Poverty

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change 
	(1)  what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the Energy Company Obligation on (a) the numbers of households in fuel poverty, (b) the aggregate fuel poverty gap and (c) the average fuel poverty gap;
	(2)  with reference to paragraph 4.17 of, the future of energy company obligation: assessment of impacts, published by his Department on 5 March 2014, what estimate his Department has made of (a) the change in the number of households in fuel poverty and (b) the (i) total and (ii) average change in the fuel poverty gap under option two of the Energy Company Obligation.

Edward Davey: The latest and most comprehensive assessment of the impact of the Energy Company Obligation on fuel poverty is set out in the Assessment of Impacts document published alongside the Government’s consultation on ECO in March 2014. This document contains all the currently available material.
	An updated estimate of the impact of this policy on fuel poverty will be included as part of the final impact assessment to be published shortly, alongside the Government response to the consultation on “The Future of the Energy Company Obligation.”

Energy: Prices

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate his Department has made of the average annual energy bill for a property in EPC (a) Band E, (b) Band F and (c) Band G.

Edward Davey: Analysis of consumption levels for domestic consumers using metered fuels, split by EPC band, is available through the National Energy Efficiency Data-Framework (NEED).
	This analysis is published online in “EPC tables 2012” at the following link:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-energy-efficiency-data-framework-need-report-summary-of-analysis-2014
	These figures are based on a sample of households covering England and Wales in 2012. The data does not cover non-metered fuels, or data on energy bills paid by domestic consumers.
	Figures are also available which show the median energy spend required to maintain a defined, adequate level of warmth, across different EPC bands. These are published in the table 3.1 of the Annual Fuel Poverty Statistics report, 2014:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/319280/Fuel_Poverty_Report_Final.pdf
	They are sourced from DECC’s Fuel Poverty dataset, which is made available on the UK Data Archive.

Green Deal Scheme

Jonathan Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many people have received vouchers under the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund.

Edward Davey: As of 14 July 2014, 6,607 vouchers have been issued under the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund.
	Data on numbers of vouchers issued are currently published weekly on the Gov.uk website at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-savings-advice-service-esas-calls-and-green-deal-webpage-views

Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Northern Ireland

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent assessment the Committee on Climate Change has made of the economic costs and benefits of mitigating emissions in Northern Ireland.

Amber Rudd: Abatement opportunities in Northern Ireland (NI) were considered in the Committee on Climate Change’s (CCC) November 2011 report ‘The appropriateness of a Northern Ireland Climate Change Act’. In addition, after receiving a request from the Department of Environment NI earlier this year, we have recently carried out a short scoping study to assess the available data, as well as appraise a number of options for estimating and reporting the economic implications of climate change mitigation. We are currently in discussion with the Department of Environment NI on how to take this forward.

Housing: Carbon Emissions

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of carbon dioxide emissions accounted for by households.

Edward Davey: The final UK GHG emissions for 2012, which is the latest year available can be found here:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/final-uk-emissions-estimates
	Emissions from the residential sector include household electricity and gas use and the use of non-aerosol consumer products. This includes emissions from the UK and its Crown Dependencies.

Housing: Insulation

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many low income households have received home insulation support in Ashfield constituency in each of the last five years.

Edward Davey: The Department publishes the number of measures that have been installed in each parliamentary constituency through the Affordable Warmth obligation of the Energy Company Obligation in Table 1.11b of its quarterly Official Statistics release:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/green-deal-energy-company-obligation-eco-and-insulation-levels-in-great-britain-quarterly-report-to-march-2014
	Affordable Warmth figures include heating measures such as new boilers, as well as insulation.
	Additional low income households are likely to be among the beneficiaries of the 518 insulation measures delivered in Ashfield in the same period under aspects of the Energy Company Obligation other than Affordable Warmth, but this figure cannot be broken down by income.
	Figures for Warm Front are published on the Government website, and show that there were 884 households helped in 2009-10, 380 helped in 2010-11, 90 helped in 2011-12 and 106 helped in 2012-13 in the Ashfield constituency:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/helping-households-to-cut-their-energy-bills/supporting-pages/warm-front-scheme
	Figures for the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target and Community Energy Savings Programme are not available at constituency level.

Insulation

John Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps he has taken to prevent contractors offering insulation under the Affordable Warmth Obligation presenting this as a Government scheme.

Edward Davey: Government has set up the Energy Saving Advice Service (0300 123 1234) so people can receive independent advice about energy efficiency schemes. This service can also check eligibility for Affordable Warmth assistance and make a referral directly to an obligated energy supplier. ESAS agents explain the customer journey, making it clear to customers that ECO Affordable Warmth is an obligation that requires the largest energy suppliers to help households install energy saving improvements.
	Energy suppliers and their partners may also contact people directly to identify eligible customers, including those who may benefit from insulation (and other measures) under Affordable Warmth. Businesses must adhere to the relevant regulations and codes of practice when promoting their services.

Land

Heidi Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much land his Department has released for the purpose of building new homes since May 2010.

Amber Rudd: The Department of Energy and Climate Change has not released any land for this purpose, nor has it had vacant land with which to do so.

Mass Media: Subscriptions

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what subscriptions to (a) magazines and (b) television channels his Department funds.

Amber Rudd: It would incur disproportionate cost to scrutinise all publication transactions to determine and identify any relevant amounts. The Department does not subscribe to any television channels.

Ministers: Government Cars

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many journeys Ministers of his Department have made using the Government Car Service; and how many such journeys were for the transportation of a red box.

Edward Davey: The Department has one ministerial car which is shared on a daily basis by all the Department’s Ministers for journeys when conducting official business.
	The car may be required to transport ministers from their home to attend to departmental business, the red box and papers. The Ministerial Code states that ministers are permitted the use of a government car for official business and for working on official papers during journeys between home and work. See page 23, paragraph 10.12 of the Code. Click link at
	http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/sites/default/files/resources/ministerial-code-may-2010.pdf
	This does not include information relating to the frequency of particular types of journeys.

Morecambe

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will estimate how much money his Department has spent in Morecambe and Lunesdale constituency since May 2010.

Edward Davey: Expenditure by region is published in the Annual Report and Accounts 2013-14 core tables. It publishes expenditure by region rather than by constituency.
	This information is available on-line at—Annual Report and Accounts 2013-14—core tables (Table 6 “Total identifiable expenditure on services by country and region, 2009-10 to 2012-13”).
	The Table is reproduced as follows for ease of reference.
	
		
			 Table 6 Total identifiable expenditure on services by country and region, 2009-10 to 2012-13 
			 Department of Energy and Climate Change 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 
			 North East 106 72 46 46 
			 North West 1,134 1,210 1,153 1,420 
			 Yorkshire and Humber 184 127 81 66 
			 East Midlands 123 114 80 45 
			 West Midlands 129 99 58 44 
			 East 118 113 75 92 
			 London 95 89 47 46 
			 South East 274 288 232 281 
			 South West 272 286 260 315 
			 Total England 2,435 2,399 2,031 2,356 
			 Scotland 319 344 342 421 
			 Wales 108 92 90 106 
			 Northern Ireland 3 2 2 1 
			 UK identifiable expenditure 2,865 2,838 2,466 2,884 
			 Outside UK 43 55 33 26 
			 Total identifiable expenditure 2,908 2,893 2,499 2,909 
			 Non-identifiable expenditure 121 297 157 231 
			 Total expenditure on services 3,029 3,189 2,655 3,141

Nuclear Innovation and Research Advisory Board

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what criteria were used to appoint members to the Nuclear Innovation and Research Advisory Board; what annual budget is allocated to support the board; what studies have been commissioned by or from the board; and what the web address is of the site where the board’s meeting agendas are posted.

Edward Davey: The Nuclear Innovation and Research Advisory Board was created at the beginning of 2014 and is tasked with providing information and advice to Government and other public sector funding bodies on the priorities for UK nuclear innovation and options for better co-ordinating the UK nuclear research landscape. The first annual report is expected from the board at the beginning of next year. It is intended that this will be published.
	With the exception of the chair, appointments to the NIRAB are unfunded. The NIRAB does not have an annual budget, however, Government has contracted with the Nuclear Innovation and Research Office (NIRO) to provide secretariat support to the NIRAB.
	Members were invited to join NIRAB, by ministerial decision, for a period of up to three years. Members were selected on the basis of their individual ability to provide credible, authoritative and expert advice across a number of sectors related to UK nuclear research and innovation. Members are appointed as individuals and are expected to represent the interests of their sectors.
	Other than the annual report, no further studies are currently commissioned from or by the NIRAB. As part of the evidence gathering activities for the annual report, NIRAB will consider the ongoing feasibility study into small modular reactors being undertaken by an industry consortium led by the National Nuclear Laboratory.
	The NIRO, in its function as the secretariat to the NIRAB, is considering the best way to make future work or documentation, such as the minutes of the NIRAB meetings, publically available.

Nuclear Innovation and Research Office

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the annual budget is of his Department's new Nuclear Innovation and Research Office (NIRO); how many staff work full-time at NIRO; how many of those are secondees and from which organisations they are seconded; whether secondees are paid from public funds; what consideration was given to appointing a social scientist to the board of NIRO; what publications have been issued to date by NIRO; whether all research undertaken by or for NIRO is published in full; and what the web address is of the site where minutes of the NIRO board are posted.

Edward Davey: The Nuclear Innovation and Research Office (NIRO) is an independent body, hosted by the National Nuclear Laboratory and contracted, by Government, to provide technical support and expert secretariat services to the Nuclear Innovation and Research Advisory Board (NIRAB). It was created at the end of 2013.
	With the exception of the chair, appointments to the NIRAB are unfunded, however Government has currently contracted NIRO for services worth £650,000 and this contract runs until March 2015. The NIRO employs four full-time staff who are currently seconded from the NNL and Rolls-Royce Ltd. The wages of these employees are included in the contractual arrangements. The skills make-up of the staff in the NIRO is a matter for the organisation itself.
	The NIRO does not undertake research in its own right and, to date, has not issued any publications. The NIRO, in its function as the secretariat to the NIRAB, is considering the best way to make future work or documentation publicly available.

Pay

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change which organisations collect subscriptions through the employers’ payroll service in their Department and its agencies.

Edward Davey: The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) provides the facility for the following organisation subscriptions to be deducted from its payroll.
	
		
			 Name of organisation Function 
			 Public and Commercial Services Trade union 
			 First Division Association Trade union 
			 Prospect Trade union 
			 Civil Service Club Social club 
			 Westfield Health Medical care 
			 Forrester Health Medical care 
			 Cash4Health Medical care 
			 BHSF Medical care 
			 Hospital Saturday Fund Medical care 
			 Benenden Health Care Medical care 
			 HSA Crown Plan Medical care 
			 Hospital Savings Association Medical care 
			 CSSC/Minerva Sports and Leisure Sports and social club 
			 Dimensions Gym Gym membership 
			 The DEFRA Lottery Joint DEFRA-DECC lottery fund

Renewables Obligation

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change for what reason a Renewable Obligation Certificate banding review for cuts to the large-scale PV Renewable Obligation band in 2015 and 2016 was ruled out as an option in the recent renewables obligation consultation.

Amber Rudd: The Government may carry out a banding review of RO support in England and Wales for any technology at any time if certain legislative conditions are met. As indicated in our consultation document and impact assessment, it is not clear that any of the conditions are met to trigger a banding review of solar support at this time. These are available on DECC’s web page:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-changes-to-financial-support-for-solar-pv

Solar Power

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what representations he has received from the solar industry and project investors about the commercial impact of the 13 May grace period proposals set out in the consultation on changes to financial support for solar photovoltaic; and if he will make a statement.

Amber Rudd: Ministers and officials have received numerous representations from, and held many meetings with, the solar industry and project investors about the impacts of our consultation proposals on the solar sector since the consultation opened on 13 May.
	The consultation closed on 7 July. The responses and evidence submitted in response to the consultation are now being analysed. We will publish a Government response setting out our decision as soon as possible.

Solar Power

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the Levy Control Framework saving per year delivered by closing the Renewables Obligation to large-scale solar PV in 2015.

Amber Rudd: Our estimate of the cost of closing the Renewables Obligation (RO) to large-scale solar PV in 2015 is set out in the consultation Impact Assessment (IA). The relevant tables from the IA are reproduced as follows.
	
		
			 Table 5: Solar deployment from 2016/17 onwards and associated annual spend (£2011/12) in 2020 under the RO based on updated pipeline projections under option one 
			   Low Central High 
			 Option 1-(‘do nothing’ option) Deployment (GW) 2.8 4.5 6.3 
			  Spend (£ million) £170 million £270 million £370 million 
			  Change in spend compared to delivery plan scenario one (£ million) £0 million +£100 million +£200 million 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 6: Solar deployment from 2016/17 onwards and associated annual spend (£2011/12) in 2020 under the RO based on updated pipeline projections under option two 
			   Low Central High 
			 Option 2 (recommended option) Deployment (GW) 2.1 3.2 4.3 
			  Spend (£ million) £140 million £200 million £270 million 
			  Change in spend (£ million) compared to final delivery plan scenario one -£30 million +£30 million +£100 million 
			  Change in spend (£ million) compared to do-nothing option -£30 million -£70 million -£100 million

Wind Power: Nottinghamshire

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many wind turbines are planned for development in each constituency in Nottinghamshire.

Edward Davey: A register of renewable projects in the planning system is maintained in the publicly-accessible Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD); it records projects by district rather than by constituency. The wind turbines planned for development in Nottinghamshire, by district, as recorded in REPD in May 2014, are as follows:
	
		
			 District Submitted for approval Awaiting construction Under construction 
			 Ashfield District 1 0 0 
			 Bassetlaw District 10 1 0 
			 Gedding District 0 4 0 
			 Newark and Sherwood District 15 6 0 
			 Rushcliffe District 2 0 0 
			 Total 28 11 0

JUSTICE

Buildings

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much has been spent on refurbishing (a) gym and leisure facilities, (b) cafeteria and (c) interior decoration within (i) his Department and (ii) buildings owned by his Department in (A) 2013 and (B) 2014 to date.

Shailesh Vara: The Ministry of Justice keeps its estate under review to ensure it meets business need, is cost effective, provides value for money for the taxpayer and is more sustainable. Separate information on interior decoration, cafeteria and gym and leisure facility refurbishment is not collected centrally and can be obtained only at disproportionate costs.
	Since the start of the spending review (SR10) the size of the estate has been reduced by over 600 properties to nearly 1,500 properties. As a result, lower business as usual costs have been achieved. We have removed nearly 50% of the administrative estate from our portfolio over the last four years. We have reduced 180 properties to 98 in England and Wales including from 18 properties to 4 in London, saving over £34 million a year.

Burial

Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many new burial plots have been provided by each local authority in England in each of the last five years; how many burials have been carried out by each local authority in each of the last five years; and how many burial plots remain in each local authority.

Simon Hughes: The Ministry of Justice does not have operational responsibility for burials and so does not hold the requested information.

Civil Disorder: Greater London

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many of those released from prison for offences committed during the riots in London in 2011 have been returned to prison following a further offence.

Shailesh Vara: It has not been possible to provide an answer in the time specified. I will write to my hon. Friend with an answer as soon as possible.

Courts: Children

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 8 July 2014, Official Report, column 255W, on courts: children, what elements are involved in the specialist training available to judicial office holders dealing with cases involving children. [R]

Shailesh Vara: Under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, responsibility for the training of the judiciary rests with the Lord Chief Justice and is exercised through the Judicial College. All training is carried out under the direction of the judiciary. The judiciary have no obligation to share the contents of their training with Parliament.
	However, I am advised that training seeks to support the main role of the judge which is to enable all those who appear in court the opportunity to give their best evidence. Judicial office holders are authorised to hear cases involving children and will attend induction training when first authorised.
	Where witnesses are deemed “vulnerable” (which includes children) training will emphasise good case management to ensure that appropriate special measures are used by the court. This includes controlling the management and scope of cross examination. Where a sexual offence is being considered for example, judges are given information about the psychological effects of this in the context of giving evidence. These few examples are not a complete list of the elements of training and regular assessment of the content of courses will mean they vary over time and according to particular seminars and audiences.

Courts: Video Conferencing

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice in how many court proceedings in England and Wales in each year since May 2010 video recording was taken to be (a) an available and (b) a not available special measure for eligible witnesses as defined in section 18 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999.

Shailesh Vara: We must do everything we can to support vulnerable witnesses and help them give their best possible evidence. In December 2013, a pilot commenced of section 28 of Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999, a special measures provision allowing the cross examination of eligible witnesses' evidence to be recorded in advance of the trial. This pilot is taking place in the Crown court sitting at Liverpool, Leeds and Kingston-upon-Thames. This is in addition to a range of measures already in place to help reduce the anxiety of attending court, such as giving evidence from behind a screen.
	Video recording of initial evidence known as ABE (Achieving Best Evidence) is appropriate for some child witnesses; this is undertaken by the police and can be played at trial.
	HMCTS does not collate data on the number of witnesses who give evidence either via live links or other pre-recorded video.

Courts: Video Conferencing

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 8 July 2014, Official Report, columns 256-60W, on courts: video conferencing, 
	(1)  which of the enlisted external video end points have been used in court proceedings involving children in England and Wales in each year since 2010; [R]
	(2)  how many of the enlisted external video end points are located away from a courthouse. [R]

Shailesh Vara: We must do everything we can to support vulnerable witnesses and help them give their best possible evidence to bring offenders to justice. That’s why we are trialling pre-recorded cross-examination to allow young and vulnerable witnesses to give evidence away from what can be an aggressive court room atmosphere.
	Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service uses information about child witnesses in criminal cases to ensure that individual trials are managed effectively. HMCTS does not however, hold child witness data on video link usage.
	The answer of 8 July 2014, Official Report, columns 256-60W, sets out the court houses within each HMCTS region which have the ability to link to an external video end point to that of the trial court. All of the HMCTS video estate is located within HMCTS courthouses.

Domestic Violence

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will place in the Library a copy of the course materials used to train magistrates in relation to domestic violence.

Shailesh Vara: Under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, responsibility for the training of magistrates rests with the Lord Chief Justice and is exercised through the Judicial College.
	In order to protect judicial independence all training is carried out under the direction of the judiciary and all judicial training materials belong to them. I am therefore unable to comply with your request.
	The Judicial College has integrated domestic violence within the training packs prepared for magistrates. The induction, consolidation, and continuation training for magistrates, particularly in the adult and family courts, contain significant exercises looking at issues around domestic violence and the statutory tools available to magistrates in domestic violence cases. Where magistrates sit in the specialist domestic violence courts, they will receive additional training for this specialist court.

Electronic Tagging

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  which companies have been awarded contracts for electronic tagging in respect of the next nine years; how much each such company will be paid; what services each such company will provide; and for how long each such company will provide services;
	(2)  what the value of the new electronic tagging contract is for each of the next nine financial years;
	(3)  whether the procurement process for the electronic tagging contract complied with Cabinet Office procedures on openness and transparency;
	(4)  for what reason the new electronic tagging system was not subject to a pilot before the decision to implement it was taken;
	(5)  what the purpose is of the new electronic tagging system; and what evidence his Department analysed or collected on the potential effect of that system on crime and reconviction rates.

Shailesh Vara: The contracts have not yet been awarded. An announcement was made on 15 July.
	Yes we comply with the OJEU/EU procurement rules as well as cabinet office processes.
	The new electronic monitoring service has not been subject to a pilot as in the first instance we need to ensure continuity of service. However, there will be a significant period of testing and validation for the new system before introduction. There is also a robust programme of testing for the new tags themselves, and we will have to be satisfied that they meet our standards before they are introduced on the new platform.
	Electronic monitoring using GPS was piloted in three probation areas in 2004 to 2005 and the evaluation found qualitative evidence to show that it:
	acted as a deterrent because offenders thought they would be caught if they were to reoffend;
	was a constant reminder which prompted offenders to ‘think twice’ when a criminal opportunity presented itself and gave them the spur they needed to walk away;
	provided offenders with renewed determination to get their lives back together after a period of incarceration; and
	was perceived by offenders to help stop wrongful identification for crimes they had not done.

Employment Tribunals Service

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 14 May 2014, Official Report, column 689W, on the Employment Tribunal Service, what the nature was of the complaint in the cases of the highest compensation payments for race in each of the last five years.

Shailesh Vara: Information on the nature of complaints upheld, and the type of race discrimination relevant to individual claims, is not recorded centrally. The records retention and disposal schedule applicable to such tribunal files, which are in general only retained for 12 months from the date of judgment, also means that information covering each of the last five years would not be held. A public Register of Employment Tribunal decisions, and written reasons, is available for inspection in Bury St Edmunds. My officials will identify the relevant cases held on the Public Register and I will write enclosing copies. However, the information sought for the year 2013-14 will not be available until September 2014.

ICT

Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many mobile telephones, BlackBerrys and laptops were lost by his Department in (a) 2013 and (b) 2014 to date.

Shailesh Vara: It has not been possible to answer the question within the timeframe. I will write to the right hon. Member in due course.

Judges: Conflict of Interests

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many complaints were received by his Department of judges having undeclared (a) financial, (b) family or (c) political interests in particular trials in each of the last four years.

Shailesh Vara: The information requested is available for the last two years and is provided in the following table. However, statistical information regarding categories of complaint is not routinely captured in the form requested and is therefore unavailable for the previous two year.
	Information relating to broad categories of complaint received is contained in the JCIO’s annual reports which are available via their website:
	http://judicialconduct.judiciary.gov.uk/
	
		
			  Family Financial Political 
			 2012-13 3 1 - 
			 2013-14 - - -

Legal Aid Scheme

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many new matter starts were awarded in mental health in Blackpool North and Cleveleys constituency for (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12, (c) 2012-13, (d) 2013-14 and (e) 2014-15;
	(2)  how many new matter starts were awarded in mental health in the North West for (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12, (c) 2012-13, (d) 2013-14 and (e) 2014-15;
	(3)  how many new matter starts were awarded in mental health in Lancashire for (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12, (c) 2012-13, (d) 2013-14 and (e) 2014-15.

Shailesh Vara: The LAA contract periods do not necessarily correspond to financial years, figures have therefore been provided by contract schedule period rather than financial year. Existing Mental Health Contracts (which began in April 2010) were awarded in the areas asked about using the North West as the procurement area. We have therefore only been able to provide data on the smaller areas requested based on the location of the provider but this was not the basis on which services were procured. Figures exclude any new matter starts allocated to providers that have subsequently withdrawn from their contract or from the mental health category.
	The LAA has recently undertaken a procurement exercise for new Mental Health contracts and new contracts are due to start on 1 August 2014. Allocations for matter starts for 2014-15 are therefore split over two separate periods: April 2014 to August 2014 under the existing contract and from August 2014 to April 2015 under the new contract.
	In respect of the new contract, matter starts were advertised and awarded using wider procurement areas so we are only able to provide data on the North Procurement Area, which encompasses the requested geographic areas. The total number of matter starts initially awarded through the tender process in the North for the period between 1 August 2014 and 31 March 2015 was 9,121. This is a provisional figure only as successful organisations are still in the process of verifying their tenders prior to contracts being issued.
	Mental Health New Matter Starts allocated to Providers located in the North West for the period April 2010 to July 2014 are as follows:
	
		
			 Schedule Period Mental Health New Matter Start Allocations North West Mental Health New Matter Start Allocations Lancashire 
			 April 2010 to October 2010 2,398 598 
			 1 November 2010 to 14 November 2010 458 137 
			 15 November 2010 to November 2011 5,167 1,899 
			 December 2011 to January 2012 864 238 
			 February 2012 to January 2013 5,116 1,607 
			 February 2013 to March 2013 834 271 
			 April 2013 to March 2014 5,342 1,757 
			 April 2014 to August 2014 1,782 596 
		
	
	No provider offices were located in the constituency of Blackpool North and Cleveleys for the period April 2010 to July 2014. However, the majority of Mental Health services are delivered to detained clients and therefore not from provider offices. The LAA’s Mental Health contracts enable providers to deliver services to clients across the procurement area as a whole (North West presently and North as of 1 August 2014).

Legal Aid Scheme

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what proportion of new matter starts are held back from being awarded at the outset of the contract; and on what grounds they are so held back.

Shailesh Vara: No matter starts are held back from being awarded at the outset of the contract. The Legal Aid Agency, which is responsible for running tender processes for legal aid contracts, advertises the volume of matter starts it is seeking to award in contracts as part of the tender process.

Legal Aid Scheme

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what consultations he has undertaken with representatives of the legal profession regarding changes to legal aid; and if he will make a statement.

Shailesh Vara: Since April 2013 we have undertaken two major public consultations on legal aid, which attracted a large response from the legal professions. In addition, we have spoken at length over the past year with solicitors and barristers and their representatives about the reforms and our final plans reflect many of the changes they asked for.

Legal Aid Scheme: Nottinghamshire

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people received legal aid in each constituency in Nottinghamshire in each of the last five years.

Shailesh Vara: The information requested is held by the Legal Aid Agency, but will take time to extract in the form requested. I will write to the hon. Member providing the information as soon as the data can be gathered.

Missing Persons: Guardianship

Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when he plans to launch his consultation on guardianship for missing people.

Shailesh Vara: The date for the publication of the proposed consultation paper on the possible creation of a status of guardian of the property and affairs of missing persons has not yet been set but it remains the Government’s intention to publish the paper before the end of August (see my written ministerial statement of 8 April 2014, Official Report,column 8WS).

Pay

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice which organisations collect subscriptions through the employer's payroll service in his Department and its agencies.

Shailesh Vara: A list of all organisations that collect subscriptions through the Ministry of Justice’s payroll service is at annex A.
	List of organisations
	Unite the Union
	Affinity Select Insurance
	Health Shield (BHCA)
	Benenden Health
	Birmingham Hospital (paid via BHCA Services)
	The Charity for Civil Servants
	Civil Service Club
	Civil Service Sports Council
	Frankland Prison Gym
	POIS Insurance (formerly Family Assurance Friendly)
	Forester Health
	GMB Union
	Glen Parva Fitness Club
	Home Office Sports and Social
	Healthsure (part of Simply Health)
	Engage Mutual Insurance
	Hospital Saturday Fund
	Simply Health (formerly H S A)
	Prospect Union
	Immigration Service Union
	Leeds Hospital Fund (part of Simply Health)
	Forester Cash Plan
	PCS Union
	Prison Service Leisure Association
	Portland Fitness Gym
	Police Credit Union
	Friends Life (formerly AXA Sunlife)
	TGWU Union
	UCATT Union
	Wakefield Health and Fitness Gym
	Wetherby Fitness Club
	Prison Service Lottery
	Prison Service Charity Fund
	Isle of Wight Lottery
	The Charity for Civil Servants
	Charities Trust (GAYE)1
	ACE Insurance company of Europe
	AIG Insurance
	Axa Sun Life, Sun Life Centre
	Bolton and District Hospital Saturday Fund
	British Healthcare Association
	BUPA Health Care
	Collation Club
	Civil and Public Services Association
	Capital Credit Union
	Credit Union
	Credit Union Leeds City
	Civil Service Sports Council
	CSO Sports and Social
	SPARTA-Sport and Rec Association for DCLG and DFT
	DTC
	Fideliti Childcare
	First Division Association
	Gala Club Membership
	Hospital Savings Association
	Hospital Saturday Fund
	HSF Health Plan
	HS Legacy Cash Plan
	Prospect
	KOPAL Pur Village Aid (UK)
	Lottery
	Meridian Court SA
	Scottish Benevolent Fund
	Sefton Credit Union Ltd
	Sovereign Giving Club
	Stewardship
	UNISON
	WO Health and fitness centre
	Welsh Office Sports and Social Club
	Charities Aid Foundation, West Malling
	Homeowners Friendly Society

Prisoners: Repatriation

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many foreign national prisoners have been returned to each country where the UK has invested in prisons in each of the last 10 years.

Shailesh Vara: It has been a long-standing government policy that we do not publish detailed information on the number of foreign national offenders returned to specific countries as it may have a detrimental effect on the Home Office's returns agreements with foreign governments.
	The UK supports projects that strengthen the criminal justice capacity of a number of countries in the context of the Government’s development and security work. This work can help to build good relationships that support the return of foreign national offenders.
	MOJ have developed projects that support prison reform in the context of furthering the potential for compulsory prisoner transfer arrangements. This work has contributed to the successful signing of PTAs with Nigeria and Albania. Where such work provides value to the UK taxpayer we will explore similar approaches in other priority countries.
	We saw the first prisoner transfer back to Albania this week (8 July 2014) and expect to see transfers back to Nigeria by the end of the year.

Prisons: Libraries

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average spending per head on prison libraries was for (a) male and (b) female prisoners in the latest period for which figures are available.

Simon Hughes: The average prison libraries spend for each prisoner for 2012-13 (the latest year for which figures are available) is £105 for the male prison estate and £134 for the female prison estate. The combined cost for each prisoner (male and female) is £106.
	The figures are based on the average male and female population figures for 2012-13 and the designation of prisons into the male or female estate according to their major function as at 31 March 2013.
	Costs have been drawn from NOMS central accounting records, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
	Prison library services are provided by the local authority library service for all public sector prisons in a way that is consistent with that available to library users in the wider community. Library services also may be commissioned locally by prisons to meet the individual needs of the local prisoner population.
	The Prison Service has always recognised the importance of reading and literature in the rehabilitative process, and the positive effects these have on prisoners. Every prison has a library which is available to all prisoners to make sure they have access to books and other material for education and training purposes.

Prisons: Libraries

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 14 May 2014, Official Report, column 714W, on prison libraries, what the spending was by category of expenditure for HM Prison (a) Leeds and (b) Wakefield.

Shailesh Vara: A breakdown of the spend on prison libraries is not available from the National Offender Management Service’s central accounting system.

Public Defender Service

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will publish the agreement recently reached with the Criminal Bar on the future role of the Public Defender Service.

Shailesh Vara: Arrangements have been put in place, under which self-employed barristers have been instructed to represent defendants in a number of Very High Cost Cases (VHCCs). Given that normal working relationships have been restored, the Government has confirmed that there is no need to expand the PDS further.

Sentencing

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what research his Department has commissioned on the effect of the gender of (a) the judge and (b) the defendant on sentencing outcomes in Crown courts.

Shailesh Vara: The sentencing framework applies to all offenders who appear before the courts regardless of gender. The courts must however have regard to the individual circumstances of the offence and the offender. Offenders who commit serious offences face lengthy custodial sentences. Sentencing in individual cases can be subject to appeal.
	The Department has commissioned no external research on the effect of the gender of the judge or the defendant on sentencing outcomes in the Crown court. However, statistics showing the sentencing outcomes of men and women and also the gender profile of the judiciary are published within the biennial “Statistics on Women and the Criminal Justice System”:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/women-and-the-criminal-justice-system--2
	The next edition of this publication is due for release in November 2014.

Sentencing: West Yorkshire

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice with reference to the answer of 13 May 2014, Official Report, columns 506-8W, on sentencing: West Yorkshire, what proportion of offenders in each offence category the figures in the table represent for each of the years 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Shailesh Vara: It has not been possible to answer the question within the timeframe. I will write to my hon. Friend in due course.

Squatting: Reoffenders

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many people have been convicted of the offence of squatting in a residential building under section 144 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 on more than one occasion since its entry into force;
	(2)  how many people have been (a) arrested for and (b) convicted of the offence of squatting in a residential building under section 144 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 since its entry into force.

Shailesh Vara: It has not been possible to answer the question within the timeframe. I will write to my hon. Friend in due course.

Terrorism

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners convicted of terrorist-related offences are held in open prisons.

Shailesh Vara: Currently there are no prisoners convicted of terrorist-related offences held in open conditions.

Training

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many away days his Department has held for officials in (a) 2013 and (b) 2014 to date; and what the cost was of each such event.

Shailesh Vara: The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) does not hold away days. The MOJ does on occasion hold training events outside its main buildings. However, these events are neither recorded nor funded centrally as they would be organised by heads of directorates. Therefore to provide the information requested would incur disproportionate costs as we would be required to contact all directorates and organisations within MOJ and its arm’s length bodies to produce an accurate figure.

WALES

Buildings

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much has been spent on refurbishing (a) gymnasium and leisure facilities, (b) cafeteria and (c) interior decoration in (i) his Department and (ii) buildings owned by his Department in (A) 2013 and (B) 2014 to date.

Stephen Crabb: Nothing.

Land

Heidi Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much land his Department has released for the purpose of building new homes since May 2010.

Stephen Crabb: None. Our London office stands on the only land owned by the Wales Office.

Mass Media: Subscriptions

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what subscriptions to (a) magazines and (b) television channels his Department funds.

Stephen Crabb: The Wales Office does not fund any subscriptions to magazines or television channels.

Procurement

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much and what proportion of his Department's budget was spent on activities which were contracted out in (a) 2009-10, (b) 2010-11, (c) 2011-12, (d) 2012-13 and (e) 2013-14; and how much and what proportion of his Department's budget he expects to be contracted out in 2014-15.

Stephen Crabb: The Wales Office was part of the Ministry of Justice until 2011 and as a small Department continues to use contracted out services under Ministry of Justice contracts. The Department’s spend on contracted out services, and the proportion of the budget spent on these activities, from 2009-10 to 2013-14 is set out as follows:
	
		
			  Spend on contracted out services (£) Proportion of budget (percentage) 
			 2009-10 936,200 17 
			 2010-11 775,800 14 
			 2011-12 714,000 12 
			 2012-13 1,097,900 18 
			 2013-14 645,400 12 
		
	
	In 2014-15, the Department expects to spend £726,000, which is 15% of the budget. The increase in spend on contracted out services during 2012-13 was due to the Department relocating its Cardiff office.

Training

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many awaydays his Department has held for officials in (a) 2013 and (b) 2014 to date; and what the cost was of each such event.

Stephen Crabb: The Wales Office held one offsite event for staff in 2014 where the Business Plan and the key priorities for the year ahead were reviewed. This had a cost of £319. The Department held no offsite events in 2013.

HEALTH

Cancer

Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of a potential link between nuclear power and the prevalence of cancer; and what estimate he has made of proportion of the NHS budget spent on treating patients suffering from cancer caused by nuclear power generation.

Jane Ellison: No such estimate has been made.
	There has been extensive research into the possible links between nuclear power and cancer over a number of years. In particular, the independent expert Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment has published a number of major reports addressing exposure to man-made radiation from major nuclear installation operations and possible links with childhood cancers, available at:
	www.comare.org.uk
	Similarly, the small area health statistics unit, based at Imperial College London and part of the MRC-PHE Centre for Environmental and Health, has published reports examining suggested links between local incidence of cancers and radioactive discharges from some nuclear installations.
	All of these reports have concluded that public exposures to radiation as a result of nuclear operations is extremely unlikely to have caused discernible health consequences.
	All radioactive discharges in the United Kingdom are regulated and monitored by the UK’s environmental regulators.

Cancer

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what steps (a) his Department and (b) NHS England are taking to reduce the proportion of people with cancer who are diagnosed via an emergency route;
	(2)  pursuant to the answer of 3 July 2013, Official Report, column 700W, on cancer, what steps he is taking to analyse progress made in achieving the ambition of preventing 5,000 avoidable premature deaths a year by 2014-15 as set out in Improving Outcomes: a Strategy for Cancer.

Jane Ellison: It is too early to be able to assess progress against the ambition to save an additional 5,000 lives per year by 2014-15, to halve the gap between the survival estimates in England and those in the best countries in Europe. However, we do know that cancer survival and mortality rates continue to improve and we are developing proxy measures to assess progress in a more timely manner, particularly in terms of the proportion of cancers diagnosed at stages one and two and cancers diagnosed through emergency routes.
	The National Health Service and Public Health Outcomes Framework indicators and the clinical commissioning group (CCG) Outcomes Indicator Set are starting to enable us to assess progress, at national and local level. For example, data on one-year survival from all cancers and one-year survival from breast, lung and colorectal cancer were published as part of the CCG outcomes indicator set for the first time on 19 June 2014.
	The Cancer Outcomes Strategy is backed with more than £750 million over the four year Spending Review period, including over £450 million to achieve early diagnosis. The additional money is funding over 2 million extra tests over four years and gives general practitioners (GPs) access to non-obstetric ultrasound—to support diagnosis of ovarian cancer; flexible sigmoidoscopy—to support the diagnosis of bowel cancer; and brain magnetic resonance imaging scans—to support the diagnosis of brain cancer. NHS England monitors the use of these tests through the Diagnostic Imaging Dataset. On 22 May 2014, NHS England published ‘Provisional Monthly Diagnostic Imaging Dataset Statistics’ for the period from January 2013 to January 2014.
	Over 34.2 million imaging tests were reported in England in the 12 months from February 2013 to January 2014. Over a quarter of all tests that may have been used to diagnose or discount cancer were requested by GPs under direct access arrangements.
	The Mandate for the NHS for 2014-15 sets out an ambition for England to become one of the most successful countries in Europe at preventing premature deaths.
	Tackling premature deaths from cancer will contribute to this. A range of work at national and local level is aimed at improving cancer survival. For example, results from the first national “Be Clear on Cancer” lung cancer campaign in 2012 showed that around 700 extra patients were diagnosed with lung cancer compared to the previous year. Approximately 400 of these patients had their lung cancer diagnosed at an early stage, with around 300 more patients having surgery, giving them a better chance of survival.
	Work continues on extending and expanding the bowel, breast and cervical cancer screening programmes, and helping GPs to assess patients more effectively. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is in the process of updating the ‘Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer’ (2005) to ensure that it reflects latest evidence and can continue to support GPs to identify patients with symptoms of suspected cancer and urgently refer them as appropriate.

Cancer

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to his Department's publication, Improving Outcomes: a Strategy for Cancer, what steps (a) his Department, (b) NHS England and (c) clinical commissioning groups plan to take to ensure that all cancer patients are treated with the highest levels of dignity and respect.

Jane Ellison: NHS Improving Quality will be working with the National Clinical Director for Cancer and with provider organisations to continue their service improvement work to improve patient experience and to ensure that patients’ views are central to the way services are developed. NHS England is also working with NHS Improving Quality to develop better ways of using the Cancer Patient Experience Survey data within the national health service in order to maximise the impact of the survey, to be able to work with successful and struggling organisations to spread best practice for example.
	Work on information prescriptions (IPs) has moved to Macmillan Cancer Support, and a report on the use of IPs is currently being considered by NHS England to decide how best this work can be taken forward. Work on quality in nursing was completed in March 2013, with the clinical nurse specialist survey handed over to Macmillan Cancer Support. NHS England is considering how to take forward work on the Multi-disciplinary team-feedback for improving team working programme.
	Clinical commissioning groups are currently in the process of finalising measurable levels of ambition to improve patient experience and will be holding providers to account. These are based on NHS England's new measure for poor inpatient experience which includes dignity and respect and communication.
	Compassion in Practice, the three year vision and strategy for nursing, midwifery and care staff, is also seeking to increase feedback from vulnerable and disadvantaged patient groups, who can have poorer experiences of care.

Cancer: Sussex

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in (a) Brighton Kemptown constituency, (b) Brighton and Hove and (c) Sussex have gained access to cancer drugs through the Cancer Drugs Fund in each year of that Fund's operation.

Norman Lamb: Prior to April 2013, information on the Cancer Drugs Fund was administered through clinical panels based in each strategic health authority and data on the number of patients who accessed treatment through the Fund in each constituency, city and county was not collected. Information on the number of patients who accessed treatment in South East Coast Strategic Health Authority (SHA) and England in 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13 is shown as follows:
	
		
			  Number of patients funded in 2010-11 Number of patients funded in 2011-12 Number of patients funded in 2012-13 Total number of patients funded since October 20101 
			 South East Coast SHA 306 1,241 1,426 2,973 
		
	
	
		
			 England 2,780 11,798 15,456 30,034 
			 1 Some individual patients may be double-counted where a patient has received more than one drug treatment through the Cancer Drugs Fund Source: Information provided to the Department by SHAs 
		
	
	NHS England has had oversight of the Fund since April 2013 and publishes information on patient numbers routinely on its website at:
	www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/pe/cdf/
	Information published by NHS England shows that in 2013-14, 4,725 patients in the South of England region and 19,282 patients in England accessed treatment through the Fund. In addition, 89 individual cancer drugs fund request applications were approved by the Cancer Drugs Fund panel in the South of England region.

Community Hospitals

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent discussions he has had with NHS England on the role of community hospitals.

Jane Ellison: The Secretary of State for Health, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt) meets with NHS England on a regular basis and discusses a range of issues, both formally and informally, including the role of community hospitals.

Continuing Care

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many families are awaiting a decision for continuing health care funding where it is claimed that the application applies to an unassessed period of care; and if he will make a statement.

Norman Lamb: The Department does not routinely collect data regarding the number of applications for NHS continuing health care assessments.
	However, following the introduction, on 15 March 2012, of deadlines for requests for assessments of eligibility for NHS continuing health care for previously unassessed periods of care which occurred during the time 1 April 2004 to 31 March 2012, the Department is aware that there were approximately 60,000 enquiries received by primary care trusts.

Health Professions: Wakefield

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the (a) staff to patient ratio and (b) nurse to bed ratio is in all hospitals serving Wakefield.

Daniel Poulter: The Department does not collect the information requested. The following table however shows the number of national health service staff in the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust on 31 March 2014.
	Local NHS trusts decide how many staff they employ, and make these decisions based on the needs of their patients and local communities.
	While the right staffing levels are vital for good patient care, minimum staffing numbers and ratios cannot take account of local circumstances, skill mix or case mix.
	
		
			 NHS hospital and community health services provisional monthly statistics: NHS staff in the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust by main staff group as at 31 March 2014 
			  Full-time equivalent 
			 Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust 6,740 
			   
			 Professionally qualified clinical staff 3,593 
			 Medical and dental staff 709 
			 Qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff 2,024 
			 Qualified scientific, therapeutic and technical staff 860 
			 Support to clinical staff 2,207 
			 Support to doctors and nursing staff 1,707 
			 Support to ST&T staff 500 
			 NHS infrastructure support 939 
			 Central functions 289 
			 Hotel, property and estates 550 
			 Managers and senior managers 100 
			 Notes: 1. Full time equivalent figures are rounded to the nearest whole number. 2. These statistics relate to the contracted positions within English NHS organisations and may include those where the person assigned to the position is temporarily absent, for example on maternity leave. 3. Data Quality: The Health and Social Care Information Centre seeks to minimise inaccuracies and the effect of missing and invalid data but responsibility for data accuracy lies with the organisations providing the data. Methods are continually being updated to improve data quality where changes impact on figures already published. This is assessed but unless it is significant at national level figures are not changed. Impact at detailed or local level is footnoted in relevant analyses. 4. Monthly data: As from 21 July 2010 the Health and Social Care Information Centre has published provisional monthly NHS workforce data. As expected with provisional statistics, some figures may be revised from month to month as issues are uncovered and resolved. The monthly workforce data is not directly comparable with the annual workforce census; it only includes those staff on the Electronic Staff Record (ESR) (i.e. it does not include primary care staff or bank staff). There are also new methods of presenting data (headcount methodology is different and there is now a role count). This information is available from September 2009 onwards at the following website: www.hscic.gov.uk Source: Health and Social Care Information Centre Provisional Monthly Workforce Statistics.

Health Services

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what form the engagement announced by NHS England on 9 May 2014 at the launch of its specialised commissioning taskforce will take.

Jane Ellison: NHS England has advised that the work of the specialised commissioning task force is not a wholesale review of specialised commissioning. It is best described as work to support financial control in 2014-15 and to plan for 2015-16.
	There are aspects of the task force work which will require specific engagement appropriate and proportionate to the nature of the issue or service via the routes relevant to the topic. For example, there is engagement with clinical commissioning groups via the Commissioning Assembly on the future portfolio of specialised services. There is also engagement via the Patient and Public Voice Assurance Group about a range of commissioning issues.

Health Services: Foreign Nationals

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether officials from his Department consulted their counterparts in the devolved Administrations on the contents of the recent publication: Visitor and Migrant NHS Cost Recovery Programme - Implementation Plan.

Jane Ellison: The Visitor and Migrant NHS Cost Recovery Programme officials consulted with representatives of the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish devolved Administrations during the preparation of the implementation plan.

Health Services: Wakefield

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) GPs and (b) accident and emergency departments serving Wakefield have closed since 2010.

Jane Ellison: This information, whilst not collected centrally, can be obtained from the local NHS England Area Team.

Hospitals: Scotland

Frank Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients from Scotland have been admitted for (a) emergency and (b) planned procedures in England in each of the last 10 years.

Jane Ellison: The information is shown in the following table.
	
		
			 Total number of procedures carried out on Scottish residents by English NHS trusts, NHS foundation trusts and independent sector providers (commissioned by English NHS commissioners), 2003-04 to 2012-13 
			  Emergency procedures Planned or elective procedures Other or unknown Total procedures 
			 2003-04 890 2,278 149 3,317 
			 2004-05 939 2,561 142 3,642 
			 2005-06 884 2,793 161 3,838 
			 2006-07 1,062 2,717 151 3,930 
			 2007-08 1,219 2,750 129 4,098 
			 2008-09 1,269 2,927 146 4,342 
			 2009-10 1,340 3,102 132 4,574 
			 2010-11 1,333 3,580 135 5,048 
			 2011-12 1,411 3,250 155 4,816 
			 2012-13 1,388 3,175 136 4,699 
			 Notes: 1. A finished admission episode (FAE) is the first period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one health care provider. FAEs are counted against the year or month in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the period. 2. HES figures have been available from 1989-90 onwards: Changes to the figures over time need to be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage (particularly in earlier years), improvements in coverage of independent sector activity (particularly from 2006-07) and changes in NHS practice. For example, changes in activity may be due to changes in the provision of care. Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre.

Infant Foods: Northern Ireland

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions officials in his Department have had with their counterparts in Northern Ireland on how best to ensure that babies in Northern Ireland are not at risk from contamination of privately manufactured batches of drip food.

Jane Ellison: Bacillus cereus is a common bacteria found widely in the environment in dust, soil and vegetation. Bacillus cereus produces very hardy spores, which make it persistent in the environment.
	The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) undertake inspections of manufacturing facilities with reference to the standards of good manufacturing practice to verify that companies are producing medicines that are of the correct quality and safety. The manufacture of sterile products, such as Total Parenteral Nutrition, is subject to special requirements in order to minimise risks of bacterial contamination.
	In the case of medicines, the MHRA and Public Health England (PHE) are currently investigating what has caused the recent incident where Total Parenteral Nutrition became contaminated with Bacillus cereus. Based on the information we currently have, we believe this is an isolated incident and the appropriate immediate action has been taken to avoid a recurrence. No impacted product was supplied to Northern Ireland.
	The Northern Ireland administration has been informed of the current incident involving Bacillus cereus. The investigations into the cause of this incident are still ongoing. The Department will continue to discuss matters with the Northern Ireland administration for minimising Bacillus cereus infection.
	The investigations being undertaken by MHRA and PHE are in their advanced stages and preliminary findings will be published as soon as possible.

Mental Health Services: Yorkshire and Humberside

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what support provisions are in place for children and adolescents with mental health problems in Yorkshire; what the average time in Yorkshire is from referral by a GP of a child or adolescent with mental health problems until they are seen by a specialist; and how much funding was allocated to children and adolescents with mental health problems in (a) 2010 and (b) 2014.

Norman Lamb: The local national health service uses funds made available to it to provide support for all children and young people with mental health needs in Yorkshire.
	The following tables show the most recent data available for the estimated expenditure on child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) in the former Yorkshire and the Humber strategic health authority (SHA) area and by former primary care trust (PCT).
	Data on waiting times for CAMHS is not available centrally.
	
		
			 Table 1: Estimated expenditure on CAMHS for PCTs in Yorkshire and Humber SHA 
			  £ million 
			 2006-07 25 
			 2007-08 34 
			 2008-09 46 
			 2009-10 54 
			 2010-11 43 
			 2011-12 67 
		
	
	
		
			 2012-13 68 
			 Notes: 1. Expenditure data are taken from the 2006-07 to 2012-13 programme budgeting returns. Programme budgeting returns are based on a subset of PCT accounts data and represent a subset of overall NHS expenditure data. 2. “Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services” is a subcategory of the “Mental Health Disorders” programme category. The allocation of expenditure to programme budgeting subcategories is not always straightforward, and subcategory level data should therefore be used with caution. 3. In order to improve data quality, continual refinements have been made to the programme budgeting data calculation methodology each year. The underlying data which support programme budgeting data are also subject to yearly changes. Programme budgeting data cannot be used to analyse changes in investment in specific service areas between years. Users of the data should note that significant changes to the data calculation methodology were introduced in 2010-11. 4. Calculating programme budgeting data is complex and not all health care activity or services can be classified directly to a programme budgeting category or care setting. When it is not possible to reasonably estimate a programme budgeting category, expenditure is classified as “Other”. Expenditure on primary care appointments cannot be reasonably estimated at disease specific level, and is separately identified as a subcategory of “Other” expenditure, rather than included within the CAMHS figures. Source: NHS England. 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: Mental health spend 2006-07 to 2012-13—PCT totals 
			 Financial year PCT name Estimated expenditure on child and adolescent mental health services (£000) 
			 2006-07 North Lincolnshire PCT 1,687 
			 2007-08 North Lincolnshire PCT 1,130 
			 2008-09 North Lincolnshire PCT 1,299 
			 2009-10 North Lincolnshire PCT 1,732 
			 2010-11 North Lincolnshire PCT 2,568 
			 2011-12 North Lincolnshire PCT 2,320 
			 2012-13 North Lincolnshire PCT 3,523 
			    
			 2006-07 Rotherham PCT 729 
			 2007-08 Rotherham PCT 2,067 
			 2008-09 Rotherham PCT 2,534 
			 2009-10 Rotherham PCT 2,931 
			 2010-11 Rotherham PCT 2,985 
			 2011-12 Rotherham PCT 3,575 
			 2012-13 Rotherham PCT 5,036 
			    
			 2006-07 Calderdale PCT 2 
			 2007-08 Calderdale PCT 481 
			 2008-09 Calderdale PCT 2,846 
			 2009-10 Calderdale PCT 2,736 
			 2010-11 Calderdale PCT 2,458 
			 2011-12 Calderdale PCT 1,412 
			 2012-13 Calderdale PCT 1,787 
			    
			 2006-07 Barnsley PCT 1,879 
			 2007-08 Barnsley PCT 2,396 
			 2008-09 Barnsley PCT 2,824 
			 2009-10 Barnsley PCT 2,435 
			 2010-11 Barnsley PCT 2,749 
			 2011-12 Barnsley PCT 3,476 
			 2012-13 Barnsley PCT 1,865 
			    
			 2006-07 Leeds PCT 530 
			 2007-08 Leeds PCT 1,155 
		
	
	
		
			 2008-09 Leeds PCT 1,291 
			 2009-10 Leeds PCT 10,807 
			 2010-11 Leeds PCT 1,004 
			 2011-12 Leeds PCT 2,225 
			 2012-13 Leeds PCT 2,752 
			    
			 2006-07 Kirklees PCT 2,576 
			 2007-08 Kirklees PCT 96 
			 2008-09 Kirklees PCT 3,030 
			 2009-10 Kirklees PCT 4,500 
			 2010-11 Kirklees PCT 2,214 
			 2011-12 Kirklees PCT 2,998 
			 2012-13 Kirklees PCT 3,152 
			    
			 2006-07 Wakefield District PCT 196 
			 2007-08 Wakefield District PCT 2,115 
			 2008-09 Wakefield District PCT 3,177 
			 2009-10 Wakefield District PCT 3,442 
			 2010-11 Wakefield District PCT 705 
			 2011-12 Wakefield District PCT 5,023 
			 2012-13 Wakefield District PCT 6,197 
			    
			 2006-07 Sheffield PCT 5,672 
			 2007-08 Sheffield PCT 7,388 
			 2008-09 Sheffield PCT 7,122 
			 2009-10 Sheffield PCT 7,425 
			 2010-11 Sheffield PCT 9,739 
			 2011-12 Sheffield PCT 11,481 
			 2012-13 Sheffield PCT 12,638 
			    
			 2006-07 Doncaster PCT 1,491 
			 2007-08 Doncaster PCT 2,143 
			 2008-09 Doncaster PCT 2,723 
			 2009-10 Doncaster PCT 2,673 
			 2010-11 Doncaster PCT 3,152 
			 2011-12 Doncaster PCT 5,626 
			 2012-13 Doncaster PCT 6,224 
			    
			 2006-07 North Yorkshire and York PCT 3,799 
			 2007-08 North Yorkshire and York PCT 5,880 
			 2008-09 North Yorkshire and York PCT 5,004 
			 2009-10 North Yorkshire and York PCT 5,034 
			 2010-11 North Yorkshire and York PCT 2,820 
			 2011-12 North Yorkshire and York PCT 5,366 
			 2012-13 North Yorkshire and York PCT 7,136 
			    
			 2006-07 East Riding Of Yorkshire PCT 62 
			 2007-08 East Riding Of Yorkshire PCT 83 
			 2008-09 East Riding Of Yorkshire PCT 2,732 
		
	
	
		
			 2009-10 East Riding Of Yorkshire PCT 2,860 
			 2010-11 East Riding Of Yorkshire PCT 3,030 
			 2011-12 East Riding Of Yorkshire PCT 5,221 
			 2012-13 East Riding Of Yorkshire PCT 3,078 
			    
			 2006-07 Hull Teaching PCT 82 
			 2007-08 Hull Teaching PCT 1,716 
			 2008-09 Hull Teaching PCT 3,842 
			 2009-10 Hull Teaching PCT 4,018 
			 2010-11 Hull Teaching PCT 3,703 
			 2011-12 Hull Teaching PCT 6,417 
			 2012-13 Hull Teaching PCT 2,997 
			    
			 2006-07 Bradford and Airedale Teaching PCT 4,784 
			 2007-08 Bradford and Airedale Teaching PCT 6,003 
			 2008-09 Bradford and Airedale Teaching PCT 6,161 
			 2009-10 Bradford and Airedale Teaching PCT 2,983 
			 2010-11 Bradford and Airedale Teaching PCT 2,445 
			 2011-12 Bradford and Airedale Teaching PCT 8,819 
			 2012-13 Bradford and Airedale Teaching PCT 7,443 
			    
			 2006-07 North East Lincolnshire PCT 1,450 
			 2007-08 North East Lincolnshire PCT 1,021 
			 2008-09 North East Lincolnshire PCT 1,564 
			 2009-10 North East Lincolnshire PCT 727 
			 2010-11 North East Lincolnshire PCT 3,155 
			 2011-12 North East Lincolnshire PCT 3,393 
			 2012-13 North East Lincolnshire PCT 3,965

NHS: Finance

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the report by the King's Fund of May 2014, entitled The NHS Productivity Challenge and its estimate of a £30 billion finding gap for the NHS; and if he will make a statement.

Daniel Poulter: The Government has increased national health service funding in real terms in each year of this Parliament investing an additional £12.7 billion over the course of the Parliament. Budgets have not been set beyond 2015-16 but we recognise the challenge posed by the pressures of an aging population and the cost of new investment. The Government is investing in technology, transferring out of hospital care while never compromising on the quality of care. The NHS is on track to make up to £20 billion in efficiency savings to be reinvested in frontline care, over the period 2011-12 to 2014-15.

Nurses: Wakefield

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many nurses were employed in Wakefield in (a) 2010 and (b) the latest date for which data is available.

Daniel Poulter: The information requested is shown in the following table.
	
		
			 National health service hospital and community health services (HCHS) provisional monthly statistics: GP practice nurses and HCHS nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff as at 30 September 20101 and 31 March 20142 
			 Full-time equivalent 
			  20101 March 20142 
			 All specified organisations1,2 2,383 2,153 
			 GP practice nurses 100 128 
			 HCHS Qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff 2,283 2,024 
			 12010 figures are from the annual workforce census, and are an aggregate of GP practice nurses from Wakefield District primary care trust and HCHS qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff from Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust. 2March 2014 is the latest available data from the provisional monthly statistics, and is an aggregate figure of GP practice nurses (data from September 2013 GP Census) from NHS Wakefield and HCHS qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff from Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust. Data Quality: The Health and Social Care Information Centre seeks to minimise inaccuracies and the effect of missing and invalid data but responsibility for data accuracy lies with the organisations providing the data. Methods are continually being updated to improve data quality where changes impact on figures already published. This is assessed but unless it is significant at national level figures are not changed. Impact at detailed or local level is footnoted in relevant analyses. Monthly data: As from 21 July 2010 the Health and Social Care Information Centre has published provisional monthly NHS workforce data. As expected with provisional statistics, some figures may be revised from month to month as issues are uncovered and resolved. The monthly workforce data is not directly comparable with the annual workforce census; it only includes those staff on the Electronic Staff Record (i.e. it does not include primary care staff or bank staff). There are also new methods of presenting data (headcount methodology is different and there is now a role count). This information is available from September 2009 onwards at the following website: www.hscic.gov.uk Source: Health and Social Care Information Centre Non-Medical Workforce Census. Health and Social Care Information Centre General and Personal Medical Services Statistics. Health and Social Care Information Centre Provisional Monthly Workforce Statistics.

Obesity

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent steps he has taken to reduce obesity; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: We have a well-developed and wide-ranging programme of actions to reduce levels of obesity. These include working with a wide range of partners including Public Health England, NHS England, Government Departments, including the Department for Education and Department for Transport, and industry through the Public Health Responsibility Deal. Key initiatives include Change4Life, the National Child Measurement Programme, NHS Health Checks, Change4Life Sports Clubs, School Sports Funding and the School Food Plan.
	Our national ambition for a downward trend in excess weight in adults and children by 2020 requires collective action by Government, businesses, health and care professionals, and individuals.

Obesity: Children

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made in achieving a sustained downward trend in excess weight in children by 2020.

Jane Ellison: Data on the prevalence of overweight and obesity are published annually by the Health and Social Care Information Centre. The latest data available are from the Health Survey for England for 2012 and from the National Child Measurement Programme for the school year 2012-13, showing that obesity rates in children are levelling off.
	The Government continues to take action through key initiatives such as Change4Life, Change4Life Sports Clubs, the National Child Measurement Programme, School Sports Funding and the School Food Plan.

Procurement

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much and what proportion of his Department's budget was spent on activities which were contracted out in (a) 2009-10, (b) 2010-11, (c) 2011-12, (d) 2012-13 and (e) 2013-14; and how much and what proportion of his Department's budget he expects to be contracted out in 2014-15.

Daniel Poulter: The Department contracts for a wide variety of services to support delivery of its objectives and is committed to providing services in the most efficient way possible to provide the best value for taxpayers.
	The Department’s central procurement system does not have a separate category nor any central means of consistently identifying spend on activities where they are contracted out for each year. To provide comprehensive spend would mean going back to each business area and Directorate in the Department and consulting on which of the contracts they commissioned are activities considered to be contracted out. This would incur disproportionate costs.
	The Department publishes information on newly awarded contracts on Contracts Finder, the government on-line facility for the publication of tendering opportunities and contract information. Contracts Finder may be found at:
	http://contractsfinder.businesslink.gov.uk/

Prostate Cancer

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in Hemsworth constituency are currently being treated for prostate cancer, what the average waiting time for treatment of such people is; and what steps his Department is taking to raise awareness of prostate cancer.

Jane Ellison: The information is not available in the format requested. The following table shows the number of finished admission episodes (FAEs) with a primary diagnosis of prostate cancer, and the average time these patients waited in Hemsworth constituency in 2012-13.
	
		
			  FAEs1 Average time waited (days)2 FAEs with valid waiting time3 
			 2012-13 64 32.6 39 
			 1 An FAE is the first period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one health care provider. FAEs are counted against the year or month in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the period. 2 Time waited (days) statistics from Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) are not the same as published Referral to Treatment (RTT) time waited statistics. HES provides counts and time waited for all patients between decision to admit and admission to hospital within a given period. Published RTT waiting statistics measure the time waited between referral and start of treatment. 3 The total number of eligible admissions from which the mean and median time waited are derived. This includes waiting list and booked admissions, but not planned admissions. A waiting list admission is one in which a patient has been admitted electively into hospital from a waiting list, having been given no date of admission at the time a decision to admit was made. Booked admissions are those in which the patient was admitted electively having been given a date at the time it was decided to admit. Planned admissions are excluded as they are usually part of a planned sequence of clinical care determined mainly on clinical criteria, which, for example, could require a series of events, perhaps taking place every three months, six months or annually. It is the case that some providers do not supply the data required to calculate a time waited on eligible episodes. Note: The parliamentary constituency uses the patient’s normal home address. This does not necessarily reflect where the patient was treated as they may have travelled to another parliamentary constituency for treatment. Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre. 
		
	
	“Improving Outcomes: A Strategy for Cancer”, published in January 2011, committed over £450 million over the four years up to 2014-15 to achieve earlier diagnosis of cancer. This included funding for centrally-led Be Clear on Cancer campaigns, which aim to raise awareness of the symptoms of cancer, get symptomatic patients to present earlier, and work to help support general practitioners (GPs).
	Prostate cancer is challenging from the perspective of driving early diagnosis through a social marketing campaign, as the symptoms of prostate cancer are the same as for other benign prostate disease. However, due to their increased risk, we are actively considering prostate cancer within African-Caribbean men as the subject for a local pilot activity. In addition, awareness is raised through the Prostate Cancer Risk Management Programme, which is in place to ensure that men over 50 without symptoms of prostate cancer can have a prostate specific antigen test free on the national health service after careful consideration of the advantages and disadvantages of the test and after a discussion with a GP.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Rural Cost of Living

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to reduce the cost of living in rural communities.

Albert Owen: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans she has to reduce the cost of living in rural communities.

Dan Rogerson: Labour presided over the longest and deepest recession since the war.
	We have taken action to elevate the impact on households.
	For example, rural households spend a large proportion of their income on travel.
	We have reduced fuel duty meaning pump prices are 13p per litre lower than they would have been under Labour’s plans.
	This means it is £7 cheaper for motorists every time they fill their tank.

EU Discard Ban

Sheryll Murray: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress she has made in implementing the EU discard ban.

George Eustice: The landing obligation will come into force in January 2015 for pelagic fisheries, and for other fisheries beginning in 2016. Much progress has been made on implementation.
	The UK has now agreed discard plans for pelagic fisheries with other member states in both the North sea and North West waters, and these were recently submitted to the European Commission. Work is also under way with the fishing industry and others on the demersal landing obligation, with a consultation to be launched early in 2015.

Food Prices

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the effect of changes in food prices on household budgets.

George Eustice: The Family Food Survey shows that the proportion of income spent on food by the poorest 20% of households has remained relatively static over the last ten years, 16.8% in 2008 to 16.6% in 2012. The average price of food remains lower than some other European countries including France, Germany and Ireland. The annual rate of food price inflation was 0.0% in the year to June 2014, compared to an overall rate of 1.9%.

Air Pollution

Mike Kane: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she is taking to reduce levels of air pollution.

Dan Rogerson: The Government has invested heavily in measures that will help reduce air pollution from transport, energy and industrial sources. We are providing over £2 billion to promote the use of ultra-low emission vehicles and sustainable transport, and are funding clean bus technology and modal shift programmes to encourage cycling and walking.
	Nationally we support local authorities in England to deliver local measures and work with devolved Administrations to improve air quality across the UK.

Japanese Whaling

Iain McKenzie: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs What steps she is taking following the International Court of Justice's ruling that Japan's Antarctic whaling activity was not conducted for the purpose of scientific research.

George Eustice: We will continue to make it clear at every appropriate opportunity that we see no justification for lethal scientific research on whales. We are now working within the EU and with other key parties to try to ensure that the findings of the International Court of Justice are reflected in the working practices of the International Whaling Commission, as the competent body for the conservation of whales.

Beavers: Devon

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 26 June 2014, Official Report, column 330W, whether she considers the population of wild beavers in Devon to be a non-native species.

George Eustice: European beavers were once present in the British Isles and are considered a previously native species. However, the species has not been ordinarily resident for several hundred years, since it was hunted to extinction in the 16th century.

Bovine Tuberculosis

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to his answer of 3 July 2014, Official Report, column 727W, on Bovine Tuberculosis, whether planned further research into the use of carbon monoxide as a potential sett-based means of humane culling will be conducted on live badgers;

George Eustice: There are currently no plans to use live badgers in research on the use of carbon monoxide as a potential sett-based means of humane culling.

Buildings

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much has been spent on refurbishing (a) gymnasium and leisure facilities, (b) cafeteria and (c) interior decoration in (i) her Department and (ii) buildings owned by her Department in (A) 2013 and (B) 2014 to date.

Dan Rogerson: The core Department has spent the following amounts on its occupied buildings. The expenditure in 2013-14 relates to a major restructuring and reduction in use of office space in central London to realise estates costs savings of £8.7 million per annum,
	
		
			 £ 
			  2013-14 2014-15 
			 Gymnasium and leisure 2,446 0 
			 Cafeteria 28,482 0 
			 Interior Decorations 466,889 3,009 
		
	
	The core Department has spent the following on buildings it owns but which are occupied by Executive agencies, non-departmental public bodies and other Government Departments
	
		
			 £ 
			  2013-14 2014-15 
			 Gymnasium and leisure 0 0 
			 Cafeteria 0 0 
			 Interior Decorations 25,508 0

Food Supply Networks Review

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 8 July 2014, Official Report, column 178W, on food supply networks review, and with reference to the statement in the terms of reference for the Elliot review published on 4 June 2013 that the final report of that review would be published in spring 2014, for what reasons that final review has not been published.

George Eustice: Professor Elliott’s final report of the review into the integrity and assurance of food supply networks is being finalised and will be published soon.

Forests

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her policy is on the future of the public forest estate and on ways of putting this on a sustainable footing for the future; and whether she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to achieve those policy objectives.

Dan Rogerson: The Government’s policy on the future of the Public Forest Estate is set out in its Forestry and Woodlands Policy Statement of January 2013. The Government is committed to maintaining the Public Forest Estate in public ownership and to establishing a new operationally independent public body to manage the estate for the long-term benefit of people, nature and the economy.
	There were many proposals competing for the limited space within the Fourth Session programme and the proposed forestry measures could not be accommodated. However, the Government stands by its commitment to establish the new public body as soon as parliamentary time allows.

Fracking

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the number of water treatment facilities in the UK capable of processing waste water from shale gas extraction; and what the (a) name, (b) location and (c) capacity is of each such site.

Dan Rogerson: There are a large number of waste treatment facilities across the UK that could potentially treat flow-back fluid, including water produced from shale exploration and hydraulic fracturing, subject to holding the relevant permits.
	Currently, in England there are three facilities with permits that would allow for the treatment of such waste water:
	Castle Environmental in Stoke-on-Trent;
	FCC Environment at Knostrop in Leeds; and
	Bran Sands in Middlesbrough (owned by Northumbrian Water).
	Core DEFRA does not hold information on the treatment capacity of these facilities.

Ground Water: Methane

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the concentration of methane in groundwater in mg/l in (a) the UK, (b) Scotland, (c) England, (d) Wales and (e) Northern Ireland.

Dan Rogerson: The British Geological Survey (BGS) is surveying the current distribution of methane concentrations in UK groundwater, focusing on areas where aquifers are underlain by shale units that may be exploited for shale gas. The BGS website provides a summary of the methane baseline results up to April 2014 and links to regional summaries:
	www.bgs.ac.uk/research/groundwater/shaleGas/methaneBaseline/results.html
	Depending on the geology of a particular site and the pre-existing data available, the environmental regulator (the Environment Agency in England) could also require such monitoring by the operator before a site became operational.

Mass Media: Subscriptions

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what subscriptions to (a) magazines and (b) television channels her Department funds.

Dan Rogerson: The information requested is as follows:
	(a) Core DEFRA subscribes to the following magazines. Please note that these subscriptions are for the Private Office, Press Office and the Core DEFRA Library only.
	Amateur Gardening
	Angling Times
	Country Life
	Country Living
	Economist
	Farmers Guardian
	Farmers Weekly
	Field
	Fishing News
	Grocer
	Harvard Business Review
	Horticulture Week
	House Magazine
	ITI Bulletin
	Material Recycling World
	Meat Trades Journal
	Poultry World
	Ranger
	Research Fortnight
	Science
	The Spectator
	Veterinary Record
	Veterinary Times
	Waste Management and Research
	(b) Core DEFRA does not hold any subscriptions to television channels except for the Houses of Parliament TV channel; non-terrestrial television is received via Freeview.

Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many contracts (a) her Department and (b) its agencies and non-departmental public bodies (i) have let and (ii) plan to let that are worth (A) between £1 million and £3 million and (B) over £3 million since 2010; how much her Department has spent on monitoring each such contract; and how many officials in her Department monitor each contract.

Dan Rogerson: The numbers of contracts let since the start of financial year 2010-11 are set out as follows
	
		
			 Ref Question Number of contracts with start date after 31 March 2010 
			 (a) (A) Core DEFRA: between £1 million and £3 million 61 
			 (a) (B) Core DEFRA: over £3 million since 2010 28 
			 (b) (A) DEFRA agencies and NDPBs: between £1 million and £3 million 107 
			 (b) (B) DEFRA agencies and NDPBs: over £3 million since 2010 73 
		
	
	We cannot predict all future contracts and could provide estimates of contract management costs only at disproportionate cost.

Rodents

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent representations she has received on increased numbers of infestations of rats in a domestic setting; and if she will make a statement.

George Eustice: I have not received any recent representations on the number of rat infestations in a domestic setting. Rats have no special legal protection and people are free to control them by legal means.

Training

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much has been spent on what (a) media training and (b) social media training for (i) her and (ii) Ministers in her Department since May 2010.

Dan Rogerson: No additional costs have been incurred on media and social media training for Ministers since May 2010.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Cannabis

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps her Department is taking to reduce the number of cannabis factories across the UK.

Norman Baker: The Government works closely with the police to support the policing of illegal cannabis cultivation. The police response to tackle commercial cannabis cultivation includes proactive operations to identify and close down these farms and disrupt the organised crime groups behind them. The police also work to improve their knowledge and understanding of the trade through activity-led intelligence gathering.
	Cannabis farms are often established by organised crime groups in residential properties, bringing criminality into communities. The Government is therefore also working with other partners with an interest in this area, such as energy companies and the property sector, to promote co-operation and the sharing of best practice in tackling cannabis farms.
	We have also worked in partnership with Crimestoppers on a ‘scratch and sniff’ cannabis card campaign, which I launched on 26 June and which will run for three months. This involves distributing ‘scratch and sniff’ cards to the public to inform them about the signs to spot and the specific smell of cannabis when it is growing. Hot spot areas, as informed by police intelligence, have been targeted by police forces throughout the UK. A similar campaign last year led to information passed to Crimestoppers on cannabis cultivation increasing 28% in the month following the launch, which led to the dismantlement of cannabis farms and a number of arrests across the country.

Civil Servants: Codes of Practice

Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) internal and (b) external complaints have been received by her Department about alleged breaches of the Civil Service Code of Conduct since 2010; and what actions her Department has taken in response to each such complaint.

Karen Bradley: This information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	Complaints are normally dealt with by the line management chain within Departments in the first instance, with the most serious cases escalated to senior managers, HR or the Permanent Secretary.
	Where a Civil Servant is not satisfied with how the matter has been handled by a Department, he or she can raise the matter with the Civil Service Commission. The Commission publishes details of the number of complaints received annually.

Crime

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many serious crimes were solved by communications data since 2010; what the classification of those crimes was; and how many serious crimes there were in that period.

James Brokenshire: As the Secretary of State for the Home Department, my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May) made clear in the statement made to the House on 10 July 2014, Official Report, columns 456-59, communications data is an absolutely fundamental tool in the investigation of serious crime. The Crown Prosecution Service Organised Crime Division has indicated that communications data plays a role in 95% of the serious and organised crime cases that they handle. An Association of Chief Police Officers’ survey from 2012 demonstrated the wide range of serious crime types that communications data is used to investigate, including terrorism, drugs trafficking and child abuse. Total crime figures, recorded by the police, and including breakdowns by crime type, can be found on the Office for National Statistics website.
	Law enforcement agencies do not routinely make a record of all of the investigatory techniques that they use when investigating individual crimes, as there is no operational reason to do so. However, Keith Bristow, Director General of the National Crime Agency, made clear in his speech to the Police Foundation on 24 June that communications data is most commonly used in the investigation of the most serious offences, such as murder, rape and kidnap, and that communications data is overwhelmingly the most powerful tool available to those investigating child sexual exploitation.

HM Passport Office

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps she is taking to increase the consistency of information issued by HM Passport Office staff.

James Brokenshire: On 12 June 2014, the Home Secretary announced to the House that an operational review would be undertaken to ensure that Her Majesty's Passport Office works as efficiently as possible, with better processes, better customer services and better outcomes.

HM Passport Office: Belfast

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what additional support she is providing to the passport office in Belfast.

James Brokenshire: The Belfast Office Full Time Equivalent (FTE) workforce in June 2014 was 216.29 compared with 147.76 FTE in June 2012. The increase in staff has been to deal with the introduction of processing of work from overseas in 2013-14 and the introduction of an evening shift in January 2014 to assist in dealing with UK applications. Currently there are 20 additional staff redeployed to Belfast to assist in the examination function.

Immigrants: English Language

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were arrested following the recently uncovered English language test fraud; and how many of these people have been (a) held as an immigration detainee and (b) released.

James Brokenshire: A criminal investigation and immigration enforcement action are ongoing and arrests have been made. As I stated to the House on 24 June 2014, Official Report, column 206, the Home Office will provide regular updates to the House.
	These updates will be provided as part of the regular publication of data on the Department’s work on borders and immigration. The next update will be published in August.

Invalid Vehicles

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the efficacy of scooter safety schemes run by police forces for mobile scooter users.

Michael Penning: No assessment has been made of the effectiveness of mobile scooter safety schemes run by police forces. This is an operational matter for chief officers of police. Relevant guidance is also set out in the Highway Code.

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she intends to reply to the letter to the Immigration and Security Minister dated 4 June 2014 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Ms M Dawson.

James Brokenshire: I wrote to the right hon. Member on 14 July 2014.

Metropolitan Police

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Metropolitan police officers were deployed on the streets in each year since 2010; and if she will make a statement.

Michael Penning: The data held by the Home Office cannot separately identify officers deployed on the streets.
	The deployment of officers in the Metropolitan police is an operational matter for the commissioner, who is held to account by the Mayor of London.

Morecambe

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will estimate how much money her Department has spent in Morecambe and Lunesdale constituency since May 2010.

Karen Bradley: The Home Office’s financial system does not record how much is spent by constituency and therefore we are unable to answer the question.

Offences Against Children

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many sexual abuse cases involving children there have been in (a) Bolton, (b) Lancashire, (c) England, (d) Scotland and (e) Wales in each of the last five years.

Norman Baker: Home Office Statistics does not collect information on sexual abuse cases involving children.
	While the Home Office does hold data for offences covered by the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (which may cover some sexual abuse offences), we do not hold data on how many cases there are.
	The Department for Education collects and publishes information on the numbers of children referred to and assessed by children's social services in England. This includes statistics at local authority level on the number of children who are subject of a child protection plan by category of abuse, including sexual abuse.

Passports

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many applications for (a) passport renewal and (b) new passports were received by the Passport Office in each month between (i) 1 January and 31 May 2013 and (ii) 1 January and 31 May 2014;
	(2)  how many passport applications processed by the Passport Office between 1 January and 31 May 2014 which missed the three week target for processing;
	(3)  how many telephone calls were received by the Government's passport helpline (a) in each month of 2013 and (b) between 1 January and 31 May 2014;
	(4)  what total income was received by the Passport Office in fees for (a) fast track and (b) premium service (i) in 2013 and (b) between 1 January and 31 May 2014;
	(5)  how many (a) permanent and (b) agency staff were employed by the Passport Office in (i) 2012, (ii) 2013 and (iii) 2014.

James Brokenshire: Table A sets out the requested information in respect of how many telephone calls were received during the requested periods.
	Table B shows income received in fees for premium and fast track services.
	Table C provides information on the number of full time equivalent staff employed by HM passport Office on 31 December for each of the years from 2010-13.
	Table D sets out the number of first time passport applications and the number of passport renewals received during each month between January 2013 and May 2014.
	In the period between 1 January and 31 May 2014, 31,188 straightforward passport applications processed by Her Majesty's Passport Office were not processed within the 3-week target.
	
		
			 Table A: Number of telephone calls received by the Government's passport helpline (a) in each month of 2013 and (b) between 1 January and 31 May 2014 
			  Number 
			 2013  
			 January 216,286 
			 February 201,647 
			 March 242,097 
			 April 288,482 
			 May 322,489 
			 June 317,534 
		
	
	
		
			 July 366,514 
			 August 265,396 
			 September 197,342 
			 October 178,466 
			 November 155,426 
			 December 148,244 
			   
			 2014  
			 January 275,514 
			 February 307,932 
			 March 415,352 
			 April 464,875 
			 May 728,639 
		
	
	
		
			 Table B: Income received in fees for premium and fast-track services 
			 Month/year Fast Track Premium 
			 2013 Income Total 28,050,512 42,242,816 
			 January 2014 1,883,971 2,825,088 
			 February 2014 1,797,000 2,269,440 
			 March 2014 2,412,529 2,687,872 
			 April 2014 2,702,626 2,896,000 
			 May 2014 3,566,181 3,145,088 
		
	
	The number of full-time equivalent staff employed by HM Passport Office as of 31 December in each year was as follows.
	
		
			 Table C: Number of full time equivalent staff employed by HM Passport Office as at 31 December 
			  Number 
			 31 December 2010 3,700 
			 31 December 2011 3,286 
			 31 December 2012 3,164 
			 31 December 2013 3,333 
		
	
	These figures are for permanent civil servants employed by HMPO, including part year appointments and permanent members of staff employed on contracts for nine months of the year. This excludes staff on secondment or loan, and agency and temporary staff-with these staff included, the March 2014 figure is 3,444.
	
		
			 Table D: Number of applications for (a) passport renewal and (b) new passports were received by the Passport Office in each month between 1 January 2013 and 31 May 2014 
			 Month First Time Applicants Renewals 
			 January 2013 98,685 365,980 
			 February 2013 127,014 433,754 
			 March 2013 137,265 413,887 
			 April 2013 157,570 474,055 
			 May 2013 159,301 488,679 
			 June 2013 145,931 449,916 
			 July 2013 148,513 408,667 
			 August 2013 109,425 275,759 
			 September 2013 88,663 245,211 
			 October 2013 84,482 241,364 
			 November 2013 74,995 210,083 
			 December 2013 81,658 227,003 
			 January2014 106,198 427,652 
			 February 2014 130,255 472,436 
			 March 2014 157,224 525,820 
			 April 2014 154,924 504,769 
			 May 2014 164,715 540,071

Passports

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the causes of delays in issuing passports; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire: Her Majesty’s Passport Office (HMPO) is dealing with the highest level of demand for passports over the first six months of 2014 than in any comparable period over the last 12 years. To date, HMPO has received over 4.4 million applications and has issued over 3.8 million passports. HMPO has progressively introduced contingency measures since January 2014 to ensure passport production matches the high level of applications. The Secretary of State announced on 12 June to the House a range of additional measures to ensure that people who need to travel get their passports in good time.

Passports

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to her contribution of 12 June 2014, Official Report, column 693, which countries have agreed to accept the one year extension passports to be issued to UK citizens living abroad.

James Brokenshire: The list of countries that will accept British passports extended by 12 months is set out on the gov.uk website and can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/list-of-countries-that-will-accept-passports-extended-by-12-months
	The following table sets out the current list of countries which have already agreed to accept the extended British passports. The list is updated on a daily basis.
	Countries and Territories that have confirmed they will accept passports that have been extended by 12 months: 11 July 2014:
	All passport extensions are valid to enter the UK. A number of other countries and territories, set out in the table, have already officially confirmed through diplomatic channels that they will accept passports that have been extended by 12 months. This list will continue to be updated as further official confirmation is received. We advise you to check with the consulate before you book travel.
	In addition, it is your responsibility to check the visa requirements of any countries or territories you will be visiting. You can find more information in our travel advice.
	
		
			 Country or territory Additional information (if applicable) 
			 Albania — 
			 Algeria — 
			 Antigua and Barbuda — 
			 Argentina — 
			 Armenia — 
			 Australia — 
			 Austria — 
			 Bahrain — 
			 Bangladesh — 
			 Barbados — 
			 Belarus — 
			 Belgium — 
			 Belize — 
			 Bosnia and Herzegovina — 
			 Botswana — 
			 Brazil — 
			 British Virgin Islands — 
		
	
	
		
			 Bulgaria — 
			 Burundi — 
			 Cambodia — 
			 Cameroon — 
			 Canada — 
			 Cayman Islands — 
			 Central African Republic — 
			 Chad — 
			 Chile — 
			 China — 
			 Colombia — 
			 Costa Rica — 
			 Croatia — 
			 Cyprus — 
			 Czech Republic — 
			 Dominican Republic — 
			 Ecuador — 
			 Egypt — 
			 El Salvador — 
			 Estonia — 
			 Finland — 
			 France — 
			 French Polynesia — 
			 Gabon — 
			 Georgia — 
			 Germany — 
			 Ghana — 
			 Greece — 
			 Guatemala — 
			 Guinea — 
			 Guyana — 
			 Honduras — 
			 Hong Kong (SAR) — 
			 Hungary — 
			 Iceland — 
			 Ireland — 
			 Israel — 
			 Italy — 
			 Jamaica — 
			 Japan — 
			 Jordan — 
			 Kosovo — 
			 Kyrgyzstan — 
			 Liberia — 
			 Libya — 
			 Liechtenstein — 
			 Luxembourg — 
			 Macao (SAR) — 
			 Malawi — 
			 Malta — 
			 Mauritius — 
			 Mexico — 
			 Moldova — 
			 Montenegro — 
			 Morocco — 
			 Mozambique — 
			 Nauru — 
			 New Zealand — 
			 Nicaragua — 
			 Nigeria — 
			 Oman — 
			 Pakistan — 
			 Panama — 
			 Papua New Guinea — 
		
	
	
		
			 Peru — 
			 Philippines — 
			 Portugal — 
			 Qatar — 
			 Romania — 
			 St Kitts and Nevis — 
			 St Vincent and the Grenadines — 
			 San Marino — 
			 Saudi Arabia — 
			 Serbia — 
			 Singapore — 
			 Slovenia — 
			 Solomon Islands — 
			 South Korea — 
			 Spain — 
			 Sri Lanka — 
			 Sudan — 
			 Sweden — 
			 Switzerland — 
			 Taiwan — 
			 Tanzania — 
			 Thailand — 
			 Tunisia — 
			 Turkey — 
			 Uganda — 
			 Ukraine — 
			 United Arab Emirates If you wish to apply for a first time residence permit you should contact the local authorities for advice. 
			 USA You will need to hold a valid visa or residency permit. Extended passports are not valid for entry into the United States under the Visa Waiver Programme. 
			 Uruguay  
			 Venezuela  
			 Vietnam

Passports

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many passports have been issued under the Government's new passport fast-tracked free policy since that policy came into effect.

James Brokenshire: As of 13 July 2014, 12,325 passports have been fast-tracked as a result of the measures announced by the Home Secretary to the House of Commons on 12 June 2014.

Passports

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications by overseas-based British citizens for the extension of an existing passport for one year have been received by the Passport Office since her recent announcement on changes in passport policy.

James Brokenshire: As of 13 July 2014, 1,721 applications by overseas-based British citizens for the extension of an existing passport for one year have been received by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Passports

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications for emergency travel documents for children have been received by the Passport Office since 16 June 2014.

James Brokenshire: As at 6 July 2014, 151 emergency travel documents (ETDs) have been issued to children free of charge as a result of the measures announced by the Home Secretary on 12 June 2014.

Passports

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent assessment she has made of the accuracy of the forecast of an increase of 350,000 additional applications in 2014 in the Identity and Passport Service Annual Report and Accounts 2012-13.

James Brokenshire: The 2012-13 IPS Annual Report and Accounts refers to the predicted demand for overseas passport applications following the transfer of services from overseas to the UK. The Annual Report indicates a demand for overseas passport applications of approximately 350,000 additional customers annually. As the Chief Executive of Her Majesty's Passport Office told the Home Affairs Select Committee on 17 June, the overall intake of overseas applications for 2014 is expected to be in the order of 390,000 to 400,000.

Passports

Bob Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of customers using the passport check and send service had their passport application rejected due to (a) completing the application form incorrectly, (b) providing incorrect supporting documents and (c) providing the incorrect fee in the last period for which figures are available.

James Brokenshire: According to data obtained from Her Majesty’s Passport Office in respect of customers using the passport check and send service for the period April 2013 to March 2014:
	(a) 0.36% had their applications rejected by Her Majesty’s Passport Office due to completing their application form incorrectly.
	(b) 0.22% had their applications rejected due to providing incorrect supporting documents.
	(c) No customer using check and send services had their applications rejected due to providing the incorrect fee.

Passports

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many passport applications were defined as work in progress on 7 July 2014.

James Brokenshire: Information obtained from management data from Her Majesty’s Passport Office (HMPO) indicates that passport applications which were work in progress at close of business on 7 July 2014 stood at 508,625. HMPO have been working to address this year’s significant increase in demand for passports. According to HMPO data, work in progress as at close of business on 16 July was 450,340.

Passports

Sheila Gilmore: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  if she will make it her policy that appropriate information about parents is included on children's passports and collected to reduce difficulties at border control for children whose surnames differ from their parents' surnames;
	(2)  if her Department will amend the official observations section of children's passports to allow a note when a holder's parent has a different surname to that of the child.

James Brokenshire: There are no plans to use the passport to identify parental relationships as this would change the fundamental purpose of the document which is for travel. Guidance on children travelling to the UK, including children travelling with a parent who may have a different family name to the child, can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/children-travelling-to-the-uk

Passports

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether people who urgently need to travel within seven days are charged for upgrading their passport application.

James Brokenshire: The Home Secretary announced to the House on 12 June 2014, Official Report, columns 693-708, that people who need to travel within the next seven days and who have waited more than the three weeks standard processing time for straight-forward passport renewals through no fault of their own, will have their application fast-tracked at no extra cost.

Passports: Northern Ireland

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the effect on people in Northern Ireland of delays in handling passport applications.

James Brokenshire: Her Majesty's Passport Office monitors performance at national level as it distributes work across the UK estate. The Belfast Office Full Time Equivalent (FTE) workforce in June 2014 was 216.29 compared with 147.76 FTE in June 2012. The increase in staff has been to deal with the introduction of processing of work from overseas in 2013-14 and the introduction of an evening shift in January 2014 to assist in dealing with UK applications. Currently there are 20 additional staff redeployed to Belfast to assist in the examination function.

Passports: Warrington

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many passport renewals for people in (a) Warrington borough and (b) Warrington North constituency were completed within three weeks of receipt in each year since 2009 and in 2014 to date.

James Brokenshire: Her Majesty’s Passport Office does not collect performance data at this level. Performance is monitored at a national level as HMPO distributes work across the UK estate to manage variation in local levels of passport demand. The cost of identifying the information in the format requested would be disproportionate.

Surveillance

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will make an assessment of the extent to which requests made by local authorities under part I, chapter II of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 to date have been proportionate; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire: Under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, local authorities must follow a robust internal authorisations procedure in order to ensure that requests for communications data are both necessary and proportionate. The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 also introduced judicial approval for local authorities’ requests; a magistrate will make an additional judgment in each case whether an application to access communications data is proportionate.
	The Interception of Communications Commissioner’s office has oversight of the communications data access regime and, in the commissioner’s 2013 report, he noted that the National Anti-Fraud Network (which provides a data acquisition service to 85% of those authorities that used their powers that year) ‘showed very good compliance’ with the legislation.

Training

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what professional development courses are made available to staff of her Department; and what the cost to the public purse is of each such course.

Karen Bradley: 26 recognised civil service professions exist across government to ensure civil servants are able to develop and deliver a professional service. Civil servants can find resources and information to support their professional development on the Civil Service Learning portal which is accessible to all civil servants.
	All professions have a head of profession; appointed for their experience, knowledge and skills, who support the development of the profession and work with key partners to develop timely learning curricula, which are aligned to the Civil Service Competency Framework (CSCF), and civil service priorities. Each of the frameworks and curricula offer a wealth of learning opportunities including qualifications, workshops, and masterclasses.
	Within the Home Office, opportunities for professional development are linked closely with business requirements. The Home Office has 18 established professions. They are: Communications, Corporate Finance, Government Economic Service, Government Finance, Government IT Profession, Government Legal Service, Government Property Profession, Government Social Research, Government Veterinary Profession, Human Resources, Internal Audit, Knowledge and Information Management, Operational Delivery, Policy Profession, Procurement, Project Delivery, Science and Engineering, Statistical Services. Given the differing range of learning opportunities available for individual professions, there is no single source which can identify exactly what development courses are available to staff and what the cost to the public purse of every professional development course is.

UK Border Agency: Northern Ireland

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many UK Border Agency staff are based at (a) its Belfast public enquiry office, (b) Belfast City Airport, (c) Belfast International Airport, (d) City of Derry Airport and (e) ports and harbours in Northern Ireland; and if she will make a statement.

Karen Bradley: The work of the UK Border Agency is now undertaken by the UK Visas and Immigration, Border Force and Immigration Enforcement Directorates of the Home Department. For border security reasons, it is not possible to provide a breakdown of staff numbers by location. Furthermore, staff are deployed flexibly according to demand and therefore move between locations. As at 31 May 2014, however, there were 164 members of staff based in Northern Ireland across the UK Visas and Immigration, Border Force and Immigration Enforcement Directorates.

UK Border Agency: Northern Ireland

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many UK Border Agency staff employed in Northern Ireland (a) are recruited locally and (b) reside in Northern Ireland; and if she will make a statement.

Karen Bradley: The work of the UK Border Agency is now undertaken by the UK Visas and Immigration, Border Force and Immigration Enforcement Directorates of the Home Department
	The Home Office does not centrally hold data on locations that staff are recruited from. To identify this information, we would therefore need to review each individual recruitment campaign, which would incur disproportionate cost.
	Staff are deployed flexibly according to demand and move between locations and regions. In order to provide information therefore on staff in the UK Visas and Immigration, Border Force and Immigration Enforcement Directorates who reside in Northern Ireland, locally held deployment plans would need to be collected and analysed against individual employee’s home addresses. This would incur disproportionate cost.

WOMEN AND EQUALITIES

Equal Pay

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Ministers for Women and Equalities what recent meetings she has had with ministerial colleagues on the gender pay gap.

Jo Swinson: The Government's Women and the Economy action plan sets out a clear programme of work to maximise women's contribution to economic growth and address the gender pay gap. I have oversight of this, as well as being the Minister responsible for key elements of it, such as extending flexible working, introducing shared parental leave, and increasing the number of women on company boards. I regularly meet with ministerial colleagues and others to discuss these issues, and the Ministers for Women gave a joint presentation to Cabinet in April on these issues.

Equality and Human Rights Commission

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Ministers for Women and Equalities what the average salary was of (a) male and (b) female employees of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (i) of each ethnicity and (ii) at each grade for the latest period for which figures are available.

Jo Swinson: The Equality and Human Rights Commission is an independent body and is responsible for its own staff management, including staff salaries. I have therefore asked the chief executive of the Commission to write to the hon. Member with the information requested.

Equality and Human Rights Commission

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Ministers for Women and Equalities how many non-permanent staff of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission are paid a daily sum of (a) £1,000 or more, (b) between £750 and £1,000, (c) between £500 and £750 and (d) between £250 and £500 inclusive of VAT for their work with that body.

Jo Swinson: The Equality and Human Rights Commission is an independent body and is responsible for its own staff management, including non-permanent staff salaries. I have therefore asked the chief executive of the commission to write to the hon. Member with the information requested.

Flexible Working

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Ministers for Women and Equalities 
	(1)  what steps she has taken to encourage flexible working in the Government Equalities Office;
	(2)  how many women have made a statutory application to request flexible working in the Government Equalities Office; and how many of those applications have been granted.

Jo Swinson: The Government Equalities Office (GEO) embraces flexible working. All posts are advertised on a flexible basis and GEO employees have always had the opportunity to request temporary or permanent changes to their working patterns at any time. This approach significantly reduces the need for GEO employees to make a statutory application for flexible working and we have no record of any such request having been made.

TRANSPORT

British Transport Police Authority

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects to publish the Part 2 report of the Triennial Review of the British Transport Police Authority.

Claire Perry: We expect to publish the Part 2 Report in the autumn.

Procurement

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much and what proportion of his Department's budget was spent on activities which were contracted out in (a) 2009-10, (b) 2010-11, (c) 2011-12, (d) 2012-13 and (e) 2013-14; and how much and what proportion of his Department's budget he expects to be contracted out in 2014-15.

Claire Perry: The amount and proportion of the Department’s budget spent on contracted out activities is given in the following table.
	
		
			  2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 
			 Amount (£ million) 20 17 11 15 24 22 
			 Proportion of total DEL budget (%) 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.2

Railways: Bus Services

Heidi Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  how much Network Rail has paid to First Bus, its subsidiaries or companies where First Bus has an ownership stake for the provision of rail replacement bus services in each train operating company area during disruption caused during the recent winter storms;
	(2)  how much Network Rail has paid to First Bus, its subsidiaries or companies where First Bus has an ownership stake for the provision of rail replacement bus services in each train operating company area.

Claire Perry: Under Schedule 4 of the Track Access Agreements between Network Rail and the train operating companies, Network Rail compensates train operators on a formula basis for the estimated overall cost impact of network possessions. It is the train operator that is responsible for providing and meeting the cost of any rail replacement bus services, not Network Rail.

Railways: Cumbria

Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  what plans his Department has to introduce driver-only operation on trains on the Cumbrian Coast railway line in the new Northern franchise;
	(2)  what plans his Department has to (a) close and (b) reduce the opening hours of station ticket offices on the Cumbrian Coast railway line.

Claire Perry: The Department for Transport is currently conducting a joint public consultation with Rail North on a range of options for the future Northern and TransPennine Express franchises; no decisions have yet been taken. The consultation concludes 18 August 2014 and can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/future-of-northern-and-transpennine-express-rail-franchises

Railways: North of England

Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the projected passenger numbers are for the Northern and TransPennine franchises for (a) 2014 and (b) each of the next five years.

Claire Perry: In response to (a) the projected passenger numbers for 2014 are as follows:
	Northern franchise—circa 97 million passenger journeys
	TransPennine franchise—circa 28 million passenger journeys.
	In response to (b) I refer the hon. Member to the written answer given to the hon. Member for Stockton North (Alex Cunningham), on 3 July 2014, Official Report, columns 696-98W.

Railways: North of England

Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans his Department has to introduce smart ticketing for rail services in the North of England.

Claire Perry: The Department remains committed to rolling out smart ticketing across the rail network. We want the whole experience of travelling by rail to be modern, seamless and easy, starting with buying a ticket to travel.
	The Department’s plans for delivering smart ticketing on rail were set out in last year’s ‘Rail Fares and Ticketing: Next Steps’. This document set out our commitment to deliver on the current South East Flexible Ticketing (SEFT) programme and, subject to project success and future funding, to extend this approach, probably with a focus on cities outside London with a significant rail commuter base. This represents part of the long term aim for smart enablement of the entire rail network.
	Since the publication of this review we have made substantial progress with the SEFT programme. The approach has underlined the value and importance of working collectively with train operators, city transport authorities and the Department. In addition, the DFT, in partnership with nine Passenger Transport Executives and Cities predominantly in the North, and with input from operators, has established the Smart Cities Partnership programme. This programme comprises eleven work streams focused on accelerating the delivery of smart and interoperable ticketing in cities.
	One of the work streams is focused on the interface between smart cities and rail, in particular what should be done in relation to the Northern and Trans Pennine Express (TPE) franchises. This work is at an early stage but it will inform the Northern and TPE franchise requirements.

Rescue Services: Sky Lanterns and Helium Balloons

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions he has had with representatives of the Maritime Coastguard Agency about the effect of sky lanterns on the Coastguard’s operations.

John Hayes: No discussion have been held between Ministers at the Department for Transport and representatives of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) about the effect of sky lanterns on the Coastguard’s operations.
	Officials at the MCA were consulted and provided data for the report prepared for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Welsh Government in May 2013.

Rescue Services: Sky Lanterns and Helium Balloons

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport with reference to the definition of ‘incidents’ on page 18 of the report Sky lanterns and helium balloons, published by his Department in May 2013, how many such incidents were caused by sky lanterns in 2013.

John Hayes: In 2013, the number of reported incidents likely to have been caused by sky lanterns was 129. This figure was collated using the same definition of an incident as used in the statistic of an incident in the report prepared for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Welsh Government in May 2013.

Rescue Services: Sky Lanterns and Helium Balloons

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport with reference to the definition of ‘incidents’ on page 18 of the report Sky lanterns and helium balloons, published by his Department in May 2013, what estimate he has made of the cost to the Maritime Coastguard Agency of such incidents in 2013.

John Hayes: The Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s HM Coastguard (HMCG) does not, as a matter of routine, estimate the cost of individual incidents. However, statistics reveal that in 2013, HMCG received 129 reported alerts. There is a high probability that these reports were of sky lanterns. This represents a drop in number from previous years.

Rescue Services: Sky Lanterns and Helium Balloons

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the implications for the Coastguard service of the conclusions in the report Sky lanterns and helium balloons, published by his Department in May 2013;
	(2)  what discussions he has had with the Maritime Coastguard Agency on (a) initiatives to increase public awareness of the effects sky lanterns can have on coastguard services and (b) what action can be taken to discourage the use of red sky lanterns.

John Hayes: The report acknowledges the rise in incidents involving sky lanterns up to 2010 and the fall in incident numbers since that date. This trend continued into 2013, with 129 attributable incidents.
	The MCA believes that this reduction is likely to have been assisted by the following mitigation:
	Since 2009, the vast majority of manufacturers of sky lanterns appear to have complied with the request to place a warning on their packaging advising users not to release lanterns in the marine environment, and asking users to pre-warn the emergency authorities in the area if they intend to release lanterns. Some users have also complied with this request.
	The MCA has distributed a short film via ‘YouTube’ giving advice on the use of sky lanterns near the coast.
	The MCA has also improved the instructions given to HMCG watchkeepers to assist their questioning of callers and information gathering, so that they can quickly establish the nature and particular characteristics of what the caller has observed in the sky.
	Volunteer and full-time Coastguards include advice on the use of sky lanterns in the safety information they provide to members and organisations in their local communities.
	The report shows no evidence of any adverse impacts of helium balloons on coastal rescue services.
	Currently there is no legislation to prevent the use of sky lanterns. However, the MCA will continue to assess how to minimise the implications of their use generally.
	No discussions have been held between Ministers at the Department for Transport and representatives of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) about the awareness and use of sky lanterns on the Coastguard's operations.

Roads

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what guidance his Department gives to local authorities on (a) the number of times grass verges should be cut and (b) the quality of the cut; and if he will make a statement.

Robert Goodwill: Local highway authorities have a duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 to maintain the highways network in their area. This includes the cutting of grass, verges, shrubs and trees. It is for each individual local highway authority to decide on the number of times that grass verges should be cut and the quality of the cut based upon their local knowledge and other circumstances including taking into account safety, environmental and conservation considerations.
	The Department for Transport encourages good practice in highway maintenance through channels such as ‘Well-maintained Highways’, the Code of Practice for highway maintenance by the UK Roads Liaison Group. It is available at the following weblink:
	www.ukroadsliaisongroup.org
	The Code advises local authorities on a wide range of highways maintenance issues, including grass cutting and highway verge management. Central Government has no powers to override local decisions in these matters.

Shipping: Oil

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which oil transfer licences applied for under the Merchant Shipping (Ship-to-Ship Transfers) Regulations 2010 have required determination under Schedule 1 of likely effects on European wildlife sites.

John Hayes: To date four applications for oil transfer licences have required determination under Schedule 1 of the Merchant Shipping (Ship-to-Ship Transfers) Regulations 2010.
	A fifth oil transfer licence application went to consultation on the 10 July 2014. During its assessment it will require determination under Schedule 1 of the Merchant Shipping (Ship-to-Ship Transfers) Regulations 2010.

Shipping: Oil

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which oil transfer licences have been (a) applied for and (b) consented under the Merchant Shipping (Ship-to-Ship Transfers) Regulations 2010 as amended to date.

John Hayes: To date the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) has received five applications for an oil transfer licence.
	Of these three have been consented. These are:
	Shetland Island Council—Sullom Voe;
	Cromarty Firth Port Authority—Nigg Oil Terminal; and
	Port of Grangemouth.
	The fourth application for the Finnart Ocean Terminal (Loch Fyne) has completed consultation and has been assessed by the MCA. A final decision is pending, awaiting legal clarification.
	The fifth application, for ship-to-ship transfers in Scapa Flow, has just been received and went out to public consultation on 10 July 2014.

Shipping: Oil

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what role is played by (a) Ministers in the Scottish Government, (b) Scottish Natural Heritage and (c) the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency in the consenting process for oil transfer licences made under the Merchant Shipping (Ship-to-Ship Transfers) Regulations 2010.

John Hayes: The local government authority, in whose area the proposed site is situated, is always consulted as part of the public consultation process that accompanies an application for an Oil Transfer Licence within the UK. Members of Parliament or the Scottish Parliament may get involved in the public consultation, as may Ministers in the Scottish Government, by replying to the consultation.
	Both Scottish Natural Heritage and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency are among the mandatory consultees for all applications for an Oil Transfer Licence, where the application is for a location in Scotland.
	The Maritime and Coastguard Agency, acting on behalf of the Secretary of State for Transport, is the Competent Authority for managing, assessing and issuing Oil Transfer Licences within the UK. This is a reserved matter for the UK Government.

Shipping: Pollution

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  what role the Scottish Government plays in ensuring compliance with the International Convention for the Control of Ships' Ballast Water;
	(2)  what recent steps his Department has taken to ensure compliance with the International Convention for the Control of Ships' Ballast Water.

John Hayes: The International Convention for the Control of Ships’ Ballast Water is not yet in force internationally.
	In order to achieve its widespread adoption member states of the International Maritime Organisation including the UK are finalising the enforcement regime associated with the convention. Shipping is a reserved matter. The UK Government sought input from the Scottish Government in the development of the convention and the Scottish Government is being consulted on the negotiating position taken by the UK.

Transport: Northern Ireland

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps his Department has taken to assist the Northern Ireland Executive to encourage investment through both regional and international routes to Northern Ireland.

Robert Goodwill: The right hon. Member will be aware that many areas of transport policy, such as ports, are devolved to the Executive.
	The Chancellor announced in this year’s Budget that funding to maintain existing air connectivity to London—first announced in the 2013 Spending Round last June—will increase from £10 million to £20 million per year. It would also be expanded to include provision for start-up aid for new air routes from UK regional airports, including those in Northern Ireland, which handle fewer than 5 million passengers per year. The Department will publish guidance that will clarify how the Government will expect to interpret the European Union State aid guidelines on start-up aid for new air routes, and explain how the funding process will operate across the UK.
	Previously, reflecting the wishes of the Northern Ireland Executive, the Government devolved to Northern Ireland the power to set Air Passenger Duty rates for long haul flights departing Northern Ireland. The zero rate for direct long haul flights departing from Northern Ireland took effect from 1 January 2013. This enables airports in Northern Ireland to compete effectively with airports in the Republic of Ireland.

Travel: Concessions

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much was spent on concessionary travel in Warrington in each year since 2008-09.

John Hayes: The annual amount spent by Warrington council on concessionary travel, including the statutory concession and any relevant discretionary enhancements, is as follows:
	
		
			  £ million 
			 2008-09 3.464 
			 2009-10 3.695 
			 2010-11 3.902 
			 2011-12 3.544 
			 2012-13 3.77 
		
	
	These figures are adjusted for inflation to give expenditure at 2012-13 prices. Figures for 2013-14 are still being collated.
	Further data (including non-inflation-adjusted figures) are detailed in transport statistics table BUS0812, which can be viewed at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/bus08-concessionary-travel

TREASURY

Bank Services

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of people without a bank account in (a) Hounslow, (b) London and (c) the UK in each of the last five years.

Andrea Leadsom: The Government has made no such estimate.
	The Government is committed to improving access to financial services. To this end the major UK banks voluntarily offer basic bank accounts alongside their other retail current accounts.
	As recommended by the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, the Government is currently taking forward discussions with the banking sector to seek a voluntary agreement on renewed minimum standards for basic bank accounts.

Child Tax Credit

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make it his policy to allow child tax credit awards to continue for children over the age of 19 where their school education has been delayed by ill health.

Priti Patel: Child tax credit is payable in respect of young people in full time non-advanced education providing that it started before their 19th birthday.

Income Tax: Westmorland

Tim Farron: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people in Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency have paid less in income tax since the changes to the income tax threshold since 2010.

David Gauke: By April this year this Government's increases in the personal allowance (for those born after 5 April 1948) are estimated to have taken over 3 million individuals out of the income tax system altogether. 343,000 of these individuals live in the North West and Merseyside region, which includes the parliamentary constituency of Westmorland and Lonsdale.
	These estimates are based on the 2011-12 Survey of Personal Incomes, projected to 2014-15 using economic assumptions consistent with the Office for Budget Responsibility’s March 2014 economic and fiscal outlook.
	HM Treasury does not publish this information at constituency level.

Mapeley

Charlie Elphicke: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when HM Revenue and Customs last issued revised non-binding estates strategies to Mapeley STEPS Contractor Limited under 10.14 of the private finance initiative contract between HM Revenue and Customs and Mapeley STEPS Contractor Limited.

David Gauke: The Department last advised Mapeley STEPS Contractor Limited of its non-binding estate strategy at the STEPS management meeting on 22 May 2014.

Mapeley

Charlie Elphicke: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when HM Revenue and Customs will next carry out period monitoring and spot checks of Mapeley STEPS Contractor Limited in respect of Mapeley STEPS Contractors Limited's compliance with its other obligations under 17.2 (c) of the private finance initiative contract between HM Revenue and Customs and Mapeley STEPS Contractor Limited.

David Gauke: Periodic monitoring and spot checks of Mapeley STEPS Contractor Limited are ongoing.

Organised Crime: Northern Ireland

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what change there has been in the level of fuel laundering and organised crime in border areas of Northern Ireland over the last five years..

Priti Patel: HMRC does not measure the different forms of fuel fraud such as fuel laundering. HMRC does measure the tax gap for fuel, published in the document at the following link. In Northern Ireland (NI) this has in the past included cross border shopping but in October 2013 HMRC for the first time published an estimate of the illicit market share for fuel in Northern Ireland for the period 2011-12, at 12-13% for diesel and negligible for petrol.
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/measuring-tax-gaps-tables
	HMRC contribute and support the multi-agency approach to organised crime in NI as detailed in the Organised Crime Strategy 2014 published by the Department of Justice NI and reproduced in the following link:
	http://www.dojni.gov.uk/index/publications/publication-categories/pubs-policing-community-safety/community-safety/organised-crime/organised-crime-strategy-2014.htm
	HMRC fights fraud on a wide range of fronts, from special units performing thousands of roadside checks to raiding laundering plants. The UK has recently announced, jointly with Ireland, an improved new marker for rebated fuel, which will make it much harder to launder marked fuel and sell it at a profit.

Remittances

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many UK non-domiciles were paying the remittance charge in each of the last five years.

David Gauke: The number of non-domiciles that paid the remittance basis charge in each of the last five tax years is as follows (rounded to the nearest 100):
	
		
			  Number 
			 2009-10 5,200 
			 2010-11 5,500 
			 2011-12 5,500 
			 2012-13 5,100 
		
	
	The figure for the tax year 2013 to 2014 is not available as the filing deadline has not yet passed.

Tourism: VAT

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the effects of VAT at 20 per cent on visitor accommodation and attractions on the cost of an average family holiday in the UK; what assessment he has made of the contribution of tourism in coastal towns to the UK economy; and if he will make a statement.

David Gauke: No estimate has been made of the effects of VAT.
	The Government recognises that tourism is vital for many coastal towns and an important part of the UK visitor economy. The 2013 Great Britain Tourism Survey estimated that day and overnight visits by British residents to the seaside brought £9.5 billion of spending to coastal areas in 2013. Coastal towns also benefit from inbound visits. 2013 was a record year with 33 million visits, resulting in £21 billion of spend in the UK.

DEFENCE

Armed Forces: Bullying and Suicide

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent steps he has taken to prevent (a) bullying and (b) suicide in the armed forces.

Anna Soubry: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has a zero tolerance policy in respect of bullying in the Armed Forces and our aim is an inclusive working environment that delivers opportunities for all, recognises and values diversity, and eradicates bullying.
	I refer the hon. Member to the answers I gave on 24 February 2014, Official Report, column 65W, to the hon. Member for Bridgend (Mrs Moon), for details of recent steps taken to prevent bullying.
	Every suicide is a tragedy and our thoughts remain with the families of all those who have sadly taken their own lives. Suicide among members of the armed forces remains rare and is lower than comparative rates in the civilian population.
	The MOD is committed to providing our service personnel with the highest level of mental health and welfare support. Commanding officers in each of the services are given clear guidance on the management of individuals who are potentially vulnerable or at risk for a variety of reasons, including the risk of suicide or deliberate self-harm.
	The Suicide Vulnerability Risk Management (SVRM) policy is a preventive strategy used by the Army that allows the identification of individuals who may be at risk and signposts appropriate responses and management tools to be used by the chain of command. In autumn 2014, a number of mental health study days will be launched across the Army with particular emphasis on SVRM and training on post-operational stress management, trauma risk management and debt awareness.
	Royal Navy Medical Officers now employ structured mental health assessments as a tool for assessing the mental health of officers and routinely employ the tool during Service Medical Examinations. This service is readily accessible at all baseports and urgent assessments are offered within one working day.
	The Royal Air Force has recently revised its Management and Resilience Policy. Since November 2013, the RAF Stress Management and Resilience Team (SMARTT) has been producing and trialling a ‘Suicide Awareness’ package in association with Mental Health professionals. SMARTT is due to begin a training programme to enable units to deliver the package to their personnel.

Army Reserve

Crispin Blunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the current trained strength is of the Army Reserve.

Julian Brazier: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer the Minister of State for Defence Personnel, Welfare and Veterans, my hon. Friend the Member for Broxtowe (Anna Soubry), gave on 23 June 2014, Official Report, column 86W, to the hon. Member for Barnsley Central (Dan Jarvis).

Defence: Expenditure

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library a copy of the NATO definition of defence expenditure.

Julian Brazier: NATO defines defence expenditure as payments made by a national Government specifically to meet the needs of its armed forces. NATO publishes the defence expenditure of NATO countries regularly on its website at:
	http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/topics_49198.htm
	The published figures represent payments actually made or to be made during the course of the financial year.

Defence: Expenditure

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library copies of his Department’s returns to the annual United Nations Report on Military Expenditure in each of the last 15 years.

Julian Brazier: Copies of the Ministry of Defence’s return to the United Nations Report on Military Expenditure covering the period 2002-11 are available on the UN’s website at:
	http://www.un-arm.org/Milex/CountryProfile.aspx?CountryId=205
	We are investigating whether returns for 1999-2001 and 2012-14 were required to be submitted, and I will write once this has been verified.

Defence: Expenditure

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library copies of his Department’s returns to the annual NATO defence expenditure survey for each of the last 15 years.

Julian Brazier: The UK returns to the annual NATO defence expenditure survey are based primarily on the MOD’s annual report and accounts. In order to meet the NATO definition of defence expenditure, they also include the payments made via the armed forces pension scheme, all of which are already in the public domain.
	NATO also publishes the defence expenditure of NATO countries regularly on its website at:
	http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/topics_49198.htm
	The published NATO figures represent payments actually made or to be made during the course of the financial year.

European Fighter Aircraft

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence with reference to the Prime Minister's announcement on 14 July 2014 of £1.1 billion investment in the armed forces, what proportion of that investment will be spent on E-Scan radar for Typhoon; how many units of that radar will be purchased; and when they will be installed on the aircraft.

Philip Dunne: The E-Scan Radar Development Programme for Typhoon is currently still within the Assessment Phase, prior to its main investment decision. I am withholding the full development costs of this programme as its disclosure would be prejudicial to the commercial interests of the Ministry of Defence. However, a £72 million Extended Assessment Phase contract has been awarded to BAE Systems, to de-risk UK specific requirements as part of the pre-main investment decision work. At this time, it is not possible to say how many units will be purchased or when they will be installed on UK aircraft.

HMS Protector

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  for how long HMS Protector was leased; and what the cost was of that lease;
	(2)  where HMS Protector was built; and what the cost was of her purchase.

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department has spent on renting the use of HMS Protector for each year since 2011.

Philip Dunne: HMS Protector was built at Havyard AS in Norway in 2001 for GC Rieber. From April 2011 until September 2013, the ship was leased from GC Rieber, to provide the Ministry of Defence (MOD) with an Ice Patrol Ship capability. The annual cost of the lease was £8.7 million, which included the cost of support.
	HMS Protector was purchased by the MOD from GC Rieber for £54 million in September 2013, which included the cost of one year’s contract support.

Procurement

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much and what proportion of his Department's budget was spent on activities which were contracted out in (a) 2009-10, (b) 2010-11, (c) 2011-12, (d) 2012-13 and (e) 2013-14; and how much and what proportion of his Department's budget he expects to be contracted out in 2014-15.

Philip Dunne: Expenditure on contracted-out services is summarised in the Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) Annual Report and Accounts and has been as follows since 2009-10:
	
		
			 Financial year Expenditure (£ billion) Expenditure as a percentage of Defence budget1 
			 2009-10 2.1 5.3 
			 2010-11 2.2 5.5 
			 2011-12 2.5 6.6 
			 2012-13 2.7 8.0 
			 1 Total DEL: Annual Report and Accounts. 
		
	
	The audited out-turn for 2013-14 will be published in the MOD’s 2013-14 Annual Report and Accounts which are due to be laid before Parliament in mid September 2014. Our in-year forecast for 2014-15 does not identify expenditure on contracted-out services discretely.
	This expenditure represents the cost of the MOD’s Service Concession Arrangements (formerly know as Private Finance Initiative Service Charges), Contractor Logistic Support and Integrated Operational Support contracts, finance lease service charges and External Assistance. This expenditure does not include those contracted-out services not reported centrally.

Sexual Harassment

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many complaints of sexual harassment have been (a) formally reported and (b) upheld in each service and his Department's civil service in each year since 2010.

Anna Soubry: Figures on the number of complaints of sexual harassment made by Service personnel since 2010 are published in the Service Complaints Commissioner’s (SCC) Annual Reports. The full reports are presented annually to the House and are also located on the SCC website at the following link:
	http://armedforcescomplaints.independent.gov.uk/newsandpublications.htm
	Information on complaints from each service can be found in the relevant pages:
	2013 Annual Report-page 72, appendix 3.
	2012 Annual Report-page 62, appendix 3.
	2011 Annual Report-page 59, appendix 3.
	2010 Annual Report-page 89, appendix 6.
	Since 2010, there have been five reported complaints of sexual harassment amongst civilian staff at the Ministry for Defence.
	Due to the small number of cases of sexual harassment reported by service personnel and civilian staff, providing a breakdown of this information by year might breach Data Protection legislation. The outcome of complaints against sexual harassment is considered sensitive personal data and the disclosure of this information would be unreasonable.

War Graves

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  how much his Department (a) has given in each of the last 10 years and (b) plans to give in the next three years to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to (i) mark and (ii) maintain the graves of those who died during the world wars; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  how much his Department (a) spent in each of the last 10 years and (b) plans to spend in each of the next three years on maintaining war graves; and if he will make a statement.

Anna Soubry: As the centenary of the outbreak of the first world war approaches, it is right that we acknowledge the important work undertaken by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) to commemorate those who gave their lives during both world wars.
	The CWGC receives financial contributions from its member nations based on the number of graves it maintains on behalf of each nation. Accordingly, the UK Government contributes 78.43% to the total CWGC funding.
	Financial records are retained for seven years. Information held by the Ministry of Defence indicates that over the last seven financial years the UK Government has made the following payments to CWGC for the maintenance of graves of those who died during the first and second world wars. The figures include UK VAT.
	
		
			  £ 
			 2007-08 34,799,000 
			 2008-09 35,153,000 
			 2009-10 46,545,000 
			 2010-11 43,341,000 
			 2011-12 46,288,000 
			 2012-13 44,636,487 
			 2013-14 47,318,041 
		
	
	With regard to future funding, the UK will continue to meet its obligation to pay the appropriate percentage (currently 78.43%) of the total CWGC funding.
	The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is discussing with the CWGC the scope for enhancing information and interpretation at burial sites as part of the centenary commemorations.

EDUCATION

Children: Daycare

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to the answer of 3 July 2014, Official Report, columns 757-8W, on children: daycare, 
	(1)  who the five providers are who have registered with Ofsted as performing childcare services on behalf of local authorities excluding fostering and adoption;
	(2)  which local authorities use external contractors to assist with the delivery of childcare services other than fostering and adoption.

Edward Timpson: As of 14 July 2014, the following organisations were listed in Ofsted’s register of social work providers as discharging functions for looked after children and care leavers:
	1. Evolve YP, acting for Staffordshire County Council.
	2. Redbridge Leaving Care, acting for the London Borough of Redbridge.
	3. Mancroft Advice Project, acting for Norfolk County Council.
	4. Catch 22, acting for Kent County Council.
	5. Vista Social Work Practice Ltd, acting for Bristol County Council.
	Full details of the listed organisations (including dates of registration) are published on the Ofsted website at:
	www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/register-of-social-work-providers

Education: Assessments

Tristram Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when her Department will publish the experimental data for the 16 to 19 2012-13 performance tables.

David Laws: Experimental statistics were published on 26 June 2014 on the destinations of key stage 4 (KS4) and key stage 5 (KS5) students1. The statistics remain experimental with new institutions, such as independent and special schools, being included for the first time. KS4 education destinations are included in performance tables, but the employment, training and characteristics data need to be fully tested and evaluated before the rest of KS4 and all of KS5 data can be published in performance tables. The next publication is due in early 2015 and will cover 2012/13 destinations.
	Experimental statistics on level 1 and 2 attainment in English and mathematics by 16 to 18 students for academic year 2012/13 will be published by October 2014.
	1 Available at:
	www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-destinations

Pre-school Education: Brighton

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many nursery places were available in (a) Brighton and Hove and (b) Brighton, Kemptown constituency in each year since 2010.

Edward Timpson: I have asked Ofsted to respond using the data they hold on registered nursery places. Sir Michael Wilshaw, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, will write to my hon. Friend, and a copy of his response will be placed in the House Libraries. Some providers, such as schools with nursery provision for children aged three or over, are exempt from registration. The number of places therefore may not include the full range of early years provision available in the area.
	The Department for Education’s Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey1 collects data on all registered child care places, including those in maintained schools and nurseries. These figures are therefore more comprehensive than the Ofsted figures; however data are only available at a national and regional level, and in this case only for the South East.
	1 Available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childcare-and-early-years-providers-survey-2011

Schools: Finance

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when she plans to confirm the level of extra funding for 2015-16 that will be allocated as a consequence of her consultation on fairer school funding earlier in 2014.

David Laws: We have today published our consultation response confirming the level of extra funding that each local authority will receive.

Schools: Transport

Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what figures her Department holds on total local authority spending on school travel in each of the last five years, including the amount spent on (a) discretionary services, (b) statutory services and (c) travel for SEN and other eligible groups.

David Laws: The available information on local authority expenditure on home to school transport is published online.
	For 2008-09 and 2009-10:
	webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130903115029/http://education.gov.uk/schools/adminandfinance/financialmanagement/schoolsrevenuefunding/section251/archive/b0068383/section-251-data-archive/outturn-data---detailed-level-2008-09-onwards
	For 2010-11:
	www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-authority-and-school-expenditure-on-education-childrens-services-and-social-care-2010-to-2011
	For 2011-12:
	www.gov.uk/government/publications/expenditure-on-education-children-and-young-peoples-services-academic-year-2011-to-2012
	For 2012-13:
	www.gov.uk/government/publications/la-and-school-expenditure-financial-year-2012-to-2013

University Academy Birkenhead

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when she expects to decide on the new sponsorship for University Academy Birkenhead.

Edward Timpson: We are still considering the best sponsorship option for this academy and will make a decision on its future in due course.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Banking and Access to Finance Joint Ministerial Task Force

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many times the Joint Ministerial Task Force on Banking and Access to Finance has met since its formation in 2013; and what actions this body has taken.

Theresa Villiers: The Joint Ministerial Task Force on Banking and Access to Finance has formally met twice since its formation and is due to meet again in the autumn. I have also held a number of separate discussions with individual members of the task force.
	Significant progress has been made on task force priorities to encourage the effective operation of the Business Bank; promote the effectiveness of national finance initiatives; and secure the availability of local bank lending data for Northern Ireland. This data, from the British Bankers’ Association, was published for the first time on 2 July alongside the update on the economic pact: Building a Prosperous and United Community: One Year On.

Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) permanent and (b) non-permanent staff were employed at the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission on 1 July 2014.

Theresa Villiers: I am advised by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission that there are 13 permanent and three non-permanent members of staff employed at the Commission.

Parades Commission

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) permanent and (b) non-permanent staff were employed by the Parades Commission on 1 July 2014.

Theresa Villiers: Staffing issues are primarily an operational matter for the Parades Commission as per Schedule 1 of the Public Processions (NI) Act 1998. The hon. Gentleman may therefore wish to write directly to the commission on this matter.

CHURCH COMMISSIONERS

ICT

Ben Bradshaw: To ask the right hon. Member for Banbury, representing the Church Commissioners, how many mobile telephones, BlackBerrys and laptops were lost by the Church Commissioners in (a) 2013 and (b) 2014 to date.

Tony Baldry: The number of mobile telephones, BlackBerrys and laptops lost by members of the National Church Institutions which in includes the Church Commissioners for the year 2013 is as follows, data was not yet available for the year 2014:
	
		
			  Mobile/BlackBerry Laptop 
			 2013 5 1 
			 2014 Data not yet available Data not yet available

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Affordable Housing: Construction

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 7 July 2014, Official Report, column 118W, on housing construction, whether he anticipates that affordable housing starts will rise or fall in 2014-15 compared to 2013-14.

Brandon Lewis: holding answer 14 July 2014
	My Department does not publish forecasts or targets for overall house building, including for individual years of specific programmes. As mentioned in the previous answer, we are taking practical steps to encourage starts on site of affordable homes funded by the Homes and Communities Agency in order to avoid any hiatus caused by the ending of the current Affordable Homes Programme in March 2015.
	Our 2011-15 Affordable Housing Programme is on course to deliver 170,000 new affordable homes and our 2015-18 Affordable Housing Programme will deliver a further 165,000 new affordable homes (the fastest rate of affordable house building for 20 years).

Estate Agents: Outdoor Advertising

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many local authorities currently operate restrictions on the display of to-let boards in all or part of their areas; how many applications he has received from local authorities for the removal of deemed consent to to-let boards since 2010; and how many of these applications he has approved.

Brandon Lewis: A sensible balance needs to be struck between letting people advertise their home for sale and allowing forests of boards which disfigure the street scene. Councils have powers to tackle the proliferation of such boards where it is an acute local problem.
	10 local authorities are known to operate restrictions on the display of to-let boards. Eight applications have been received since 2010 of which two were to renew previous Secretary of State Directions. All applications have been approved either in full or with modifications.

Estate Agents: Outdoor Advertising

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when he expects to announce a final decision on the Regulation 7 application by Newcastle City Council for the removal of deemed consent to to-let boards.

Brandon Lewis: A hearing into this proposal was held on 20 May 2014 and we expect to receive an Inspector’s Report shortly. A final decision will be issued as soon as possible following careful consideration of the Inspector’s Report.

Fires: Safety

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance is given by his Department on safety of havans in Hindu community, cultural and religious events and the compatibility of such instruments with existing fire regulations.

Penny Mordaunt: This Government strongly supports faith communities being able to celebrate and mark religious festivals and exercise their freedom of religion.
	Any event involving fires requires the application of some sensible planning. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies to all commercial premises and others to which the public have access. It requires the employer or building owner to assess the risk of fire to any occupants and put in place adequate fire safety measures to remove or reduce the risk to as low as reasonably practicable.
	We have not produced any specific guidance on Havan, although we have produced more general guidance on fire safety, including advice on open-air events, and on small and large assemblies. These can be found online at:
	www.gov.uk/workplace-fire-safety-your-responsibilities/fire-safety-advice-documents

Fracking

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the cost to a local authority of processing an environmental impact assessment for unconventional oil and gas extraction.

Brandon Lewis: Our expectation is that the costs to minerals planning authorities of processing an environmental impact assessment linked to a planning application for unconventional oil or gas extraction will be broadly comparable to those already incurred in respect of conventional oil and gas extraction applications.

Housing: Construction

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what proportion of new dwellings in England were built on previously developed land in each year since 2008.

Brandon Lewis: holding answer 14 July 2014
	The proportion of new dwellings in England built on previously-developed land in each year since 2008 can be found in Table P211 of the Live Tables on Land Use Change Statistics, which is available from:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-land-use-change-statistics
	I also refer the right hon. Member to the written ministerial statement of 16 June 2014, Official Report, columns 71-72WS, which outlines the steps we are taking to increase house building on brownfield land.

Local Government Services

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many times the Community Right to Challenge has been used since it came into force on 27 June 2012; how many such challenges have been against a private contractor; and what proportion of all claims have been unsuccessful.

Stephen Williams: The Department does not collate information on the number of Expressions of Interest submitted to local authorities to take over council run services or the number of service contracts won as a result of a procurement exercise under Right to Challenge provisions. Therefore we are unable to say how many challenges have been made against a private contractor; or what proportion of all claims have been unsuccessful.
	Right to Challenge enables community groups to exercise their powers to submit challenges to councils on current contracted services that they manage but may be delivered through a third party. The challenge powers cannot force breaks in contracts but it does enable community organisations to submit Expressions of Interest bids for council services when contracts are due to expire.
	We are aware of 37 Expressions of Interest submissions to councils, however, this is not a comprehensive figure. This soft intelligence has been collected through conversations with individual local authorities and community groups who have accessed the challenge support programme.
	Our support has helped a number of groups looking to or thinking about taking on service delivery. We have supported 316 groups through specialist referrals and 212 went on to access financial assistance through the grants programme. We understand 40 groups were intending to approach their council with a service proposition. A further 55 groups were expecting to bid in procurement rounds and another 11 wanted support with their bids.
	The Community Right to Challenge is also recognised by the voluntary and community and parish sectors as being helpful in opening up relationships with local authorities. A survey of 188 inquirers to the advice service indicated that 25% were in negotiation with their council on potential commissioning and said negotiation had come about as a direct result of the challenge legislation and 48% felt that their local authority was more open to contracting with eligible bodies than before the legislation came into force.

Mortgages: Government Assistance

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many house purchases have been funded through the Help to Buy scheme in (a) Brighton, Kemptown constituency, (b) Sussex and (c) South East England to date.

Brandon Lewis: This Government is committed to supporting people’s aspirations to own their own home. The Department’s official statistics on sales for the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme, as of 31 May, broken down by local authority and postcode sector for England, are available at:
	www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/help-to-buy-equity-loan-scheme-monthly-statistics
	Figures are not available by constituency. In the areas of Brighton and Hove, and Lewes which covers all of the Brighton, Kemptown constituency, the number of families buying a home with the support of the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme is four and zero, respectively. Equivalent figures for Help to Buy: NewBuy are two and six.
	The number of families buying a home with the support of the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme in Sussex is 591. 104 families have bought a home with the support of Help to Buy: NewBuy.
	My Department does not publish regional statistics.
	The Help to Buy: Mortgage Guarantee scheme is managed by HM Treasury and the data is available at:
	www.gov.uk/government/publications/help-to-buy-mortgage-guarantee-scheme-quarterly-statistics-october-2013-to-march-2014

Parking Offences: CCTV

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 10 July 2014, Official Report, column 408W, on parking offences: CCTV, what proportion of (a) organisations and (b) individuals responding to his consultation on local authority parking (i) agreed with, (ii) did not agree with and (iii) expressed no view on the Government’s intention to abolish the use of closed circuit television cameras for parking enforcement.

Penny Mordaunt: I have placed in the Library of the House, a copy of the Government response to the consultation which outlines the feedback to the questions asked. For the Government’s public policy rationale for our reforms, I refer the right hon. Member to the previous answer he received on 10 July 2014, Official Report, column 408W.

Planning Permission

Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many dwellings with approved planning applications remain to be developed.

Kris Hopkins: holding answer 15 July 2014
	I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 14 July 2014, Official Report, columns 530-31W.

Private Rented Housing: Complaints

Heidi Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many complaints have been made to his Department in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12, (c) 2012-13 and (d) 2013-14 against landlords and letting agents by tenants in the private rented sector.

Brandon Lewis: holding answer 14 July 2014
	My Department does not hold this information.
	Local authorities have extensive powers to take action against landlords who do not fulfil their legal obligations to tenants, or who fail to maintain their properties adequately. All complaints about landlords should be directed towards the relevant local authority.
	Letting agents are required to comply with Consumer Protection Legislation, and anyone who has concerns about a letting agent can raise this with Trading Standards.
	However, to strengthen the hand of consumers, we have introduced new legislation which will require all letting and managing agents in England to belong to an approved redress scheme. The Government is also introducing legislation which will ban letting agents from charging hidden fees.

Public Works Loan Board

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what support his Department provides to local authorities which cannot repay their loans to the Public Works Loan Board; and if he will make a statement.

Kris Hopkins: Under the prudential capital finance system, local authorities are free to borrow for any capital expenditure without Government consent, provided that they and their auditors are satisfied that they can afford to meet the borrowing costs.
	Authorities have a statutory duty to make an amount of debt provision which the authority considers prudent. My Department has issued simple guidance on setting the level of prudent provision (Minimum Revenue Provision), and authorities must have regard to these recommendations.
	The Guidance on the Minimum Revenue Provision is available on the DCLG website at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/capital-finance-guidance-on-minimum-revenue-provision-third-edition

Shared Ownership

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps his Department is taking to identify the barriers which prevent tenants in shared-ownership properties from staircasing up to increase the share of the property that they own.

Brandon Lewis: The Government is committed to helping people meet their aspirations to rent or own their own homes through current affordable home ownership schemes, including shared ownership and Help to Buy. Shared ownership continues to be an extremely popular and effective way of helping households who are priced out of the housing market to get on the ladder. We are open to representations on any practical steps that can be taken to promote such schemes.

Travellers: Caravan Sites

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps he is taking to assist Peterborough City Council and others in preventing incursion by travellers onto public land for the purpose of encampment; and if he will make a statement.

Brandon Lewis: The Government is concerned about unauthorised sites and the effect they can have on local communities. In August 2013, the Government sent all council leaders updated guidance (see the following link), and setting out the strong powers councils and landowners have to remove illegal and unauthorised sites on both public and private land.
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dealing-with-illegal-and-unauthorised-encampments-a-summary-of-available-powers

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Buildings

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much his Department has spent on refurbishing its entrance hall in the last year.

Jo Swinson: The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills has spent £56,250.49 refurbishing the entrance hall in the last year (rolling 12 month period). The following is a breakdown of this expenditure:
	
		
			 Expenditure Cost (£) 
			 BIS TV reception installation and equipment 6,320.00 
			   
			 Reception wall frames 8,130.00 
			 Reception display stands  
			 Signage  
			   
			 Backdrop for the exhibition space within the main reception 968.00 
			 Building works carried out in 1VS reception 40,842.49 
			 Total 56,250.49 
		
	
	The reception area has been reconfigured in order to maximise the opportunities for exhibitions and displays to showcase UK businesses.

Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many contracts (a) let since 2010 and (b) about to be let by his Department and its agencies are worth (i) between £1 million and £3 million and (ii) over £3 million; how much has been spent on monitoring each contract let by his Department since 2010; and how many officials in his Department monitor each contract let since 2010.

Jo Swinson: The Department complies with the Government’s transparency programme. As part of this all of the Department’s contract opportunities with a value greater than £10,000 and all contracts subsequently awarded are published on Contracts Finder.
	The maintenance of central records of all contracts let by the Department commenced from August 2012. Therefore, I can provide information on the contracts let in the period August 2012 to date only.
	According to these records one contract has been let in the £1 million to £3 million range and two contracts have been let with a value in excess of £3 million. I am not aware that any contracts are about to be let with a value above £1 million.
	Records are not kept on the numbers of officials monitoring these contracts or the cost of so doing.
	I have approached the chief executives of the Department’s executive agencies (Insolvency Service, Companies House, National Measurement Office, Intellectual Property Office, UK Space Agency, Ordnance Survey, Met Office, and the Land Registry) and they will respond to the hon. Member directly. A letter from the Skills Funding Agency will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
	Letter from David Parker, dated 16 July 2014
	Thank you for your question addressed to the Secretary of State for the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills how many contracts (a) let since 2010 and (b) about to be let by his Department and its agencies are worth (i) between £1 million and £3 million and (ii) over £3 million; how much has been spent on monitoring each contract let by his Department since 2010; and how many officials in his Department monitor each contract let since 2010 by his Department since 2010.
	The UK Space Agency became an Executive Agency of the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills on the 1st April 2011.
	The UK Space Agency has no contracts worth (i) between £1 million and £3 million and (ii) over £3 million. There are no finance staff dedicated to monitoring the Agency’s contracts; they do so as part of wider finance duties and therefore the individual costs are incalculable but will be immaterial.
	Letter from Ed Lester, dated 17 July 2014
	I write on behalf of Land Registry in response to Parliamentary Question 205196 which you tabled and which asked the following:
	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many contracts (a) let since 2010 and (b) about to be let by his Department and its agencies are worth (i) between £1 million and £3 million and (ii) over £3 million; how much has been spent on monitoring each contract let by his Department since 2010; and how many officials in his Department monitor each contract let since 2010 by his Department since 2010.
	Since 2010 Land Registry have let 6 contracts in the £1-£3m range and 12 in the over £3m range. There is one contract over £3m which is about to be let.
	There were 16.6 staff working on letting and monitoring contracts from 2010 to the present. The staff costs amount to £4.5m. These are based on the Land Registry full staff cost table, which includes internal overhead costs as well as salary and other associated costs.
	I hope that you find this information useful.
	Letter from Ann Lewis, dated 17 July 2014
	I am replying on behalf of Companies House to your Parliamentary Question tabled 14 July 2014, UIN 205195 to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills.
	Since 2010, Companies House has let four contracts worth between £1 million and £3 million. It has not let any worth more than £3 million.
	Information on how much we have spent on monitoring each contract is not available: the officials monitoring each contract carry out a wide range of duties of which contract monitoring is just a part.
	There are two officials monitoring each contract.
	Letter from Neil Ackroyd, dated 14 July 2014
	As Acting Director General and Chief Executive of Ordnance Survey, I have been asked to respond to your Parliamentary Question asking the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills "how many contracts (a) let since 2010 and (b) about to be let by his Department and its agencies are worth (i) between £1 million and £3 million and (ii) over £3 million; how much has been spent on monitoring each contract let by his Department since 2010; and how many officials in his Department monitor each contract let since 2010 by his Department since 2010."
	Ordnance Survey has a number of contracts let which fall within the above ranges. Details are provided on the attached sheet.
	Should you have any further questions, please let me know.
	I hope this information is helpful.
	
		
			 Ordnance Survey data summary 
			  Number of contracts placed between £1m and £3m Number of contracts placed over £3m Total cumulative value (£m) How much spent on monitoring contracts Number of staff involved in contract management between £1m and £3m Number of staff involved in contract management over £3m 
			 2010 2 1 9.550 This information is not collected/ collated 2 2 
			 2011 2 3 10.383 This information is not collected/ collated 2 5 
			 2012 1 0 2.850 This information is not collected/ collated 2 n/a 
			 2013 8 0 10 This information is not collected/ collated 11 n/a 
		
	
	
		
			 2014 2 0 3 This information is not collected/ collated 6 n/a 
			 2014 to be done 3 1 10 This information is not collected/ collated 3 3 
		
	
	Letter from John Hirst, dated 17 July 2014
	I am replying on behalf of the Met Office to your Parliamentary Question tabled on 10 July 2014, UIN 205195 to the Secretary of State for Business, innovation and Skills.
	The information you requested is shown in the following table.
	
		
			 Contract value Contracts let since 2010 Contracts about to be let Officials per contract1 Estimated total number of hours monitoring contracts Estimated total spent monitoring contracts (£)2 
			 >£1m to £3m 4 0 1 1,069 24,729 
			 >£3m 2 0 1 768 17,664 
			 1 Officials whose job descriptions include contract monitoring. 2 Internal pay costs 
		
	
	I hope this helps.
	Letter from Richard Judge, dated 17 July 2014
	The Secretary of State for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has asked me to reply to your question, how many contracts (a) let since 2010 and (b) about to be let by his Department and its agencies are worth (i) between £1 million and £3 million and (ii) over £3 million; how much has been spent on monitoring each contract let by his Department since 2010; and how many officials in his Department monitor each contract let since 2010 by his Department since 2010.
	In the period in question, the Insolvency Service has let the following contracts:
	(a) Let since 2010
	(i) £1-£3M—1
	(ii) >£3M—1
	(b) About to be let
	(i) £1-£3M
	(ii) >£3M—1
	All the above were advertised by means of an OJEU notice published prior to the procurement process.
	How much has been spent on monitoring?
	The annual total salary costs for procurement, contracts and service delivery staff (located within the Finance and Commercial Directorate) within the Agency are £404k. These staff are responsible for the full range of procurement, contract and service delivery activities across the Insolvency Service, and therefore costs for monitoring alone would be significantly less than £404k. However we are not able to analyse time spent by these staff across the activities noted above.
	In addition, there are a number of staff who monitor supplier contract performance who are located within the wider organisation. However these staff typically spend only a portion of their time on this activity, and we do not have the information to estimate the total time spent by these staff on monitoring activities.
	In summary, £400k would probably be a reasonable estimate of the annual salary costs of staff involved in contract monitoring.
	How many officials in his Department monitor each contract let since 2010?
	There are currently 10 staff within the procurement, contracts and service delivery team. As noted above, these staff are involved in a range of activities, including contract monitoring. In addition, other staff within the organisation spend a proportion of their time on monitoring activities.
	Letter from Richard Sanders, dated 17 July 2014
	I am responding in respect of the National Measurement Office (NMO), an executive agency of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) to your Parliamentary Question tabled on 10 July 2014, asking the BIS Secretary of State how many contracts (a) let since 2010 and (b) about to be let by his Department and its agencies are worth (i) between £1 million and £3 million and (ii) over £3 million; how much has been spent on monitoring each contract let by his Department since 2010; and how many officials in his Department monitor each contract let since 2010 by his Department since 2010.
	Our responses are as follows:
	Question a) (i) 4 contracts
	Question a) (ii) 12 contracts
	Question b) (i) Nil contracts
	Question b) (ii) Nil Contracts.
	The following table shows how much has been spent on the monitoring of each contract by NMO and how many officials monitor each contract between 1st April 2010 and 31st March 2014:
	
		
			 Contract £ spent on monitoring the contract1 Number of officials (headcount) monitoring the contract2 
			 TUV SUD NEL Contract 1— Scientific Metrology 3— 2 
			 TUV SUD NEL Contract 2—Scientific Metrology 3— 2 
			 TUV SUD NEL Contract 3—Scientific Metrology 3— 2 
			 TUV SUD NEL Contract 4—Scientific Metrology 3— 2 
			 LGC Ltd Contract 1—Scientific Metrology 3— 2 
			 LGC Ltd Contract 2—Scientific Metrology 3— 2 
			 LGC Ltd Contract 3—Scientific Metrology 3— 2 
			 LGC Ltd Contract 4—Scientific Metrology 3— 2 
			 LGC Ltd Contract 5—Scientific Metrology 3— 2 
		
	
	
		
			 LGC Ltd Contract 6—Scientific Metrology 3— 2 
			 LGC Ltd Contract 7—Scientific Metrology 3— 2 
			 LGC Ltd Contract 8—Scientific Metrology 3— 2 
			 LGC Ltd Contract 9—Scientific Metrology 3— 2 
			 LGC Ltd Contract 10—Scientific Metrology 3— 2 
			 SGS Ltd—to test disputed gas and electricity meters 2,475 2 
			 HDR, Inc—Estates (construction work) 2,750 1 
			 1 This refers to the staff costs of civil service officials engaged in contract monitoring activities which include the verification of invoices, ensuring that key performance indicators are met, dealing with queries or requests for variation to the contract, attendance at meetings and maintaining the community group of expert advisors. 2 This refers to the number of civil service officials involved in the monitoring of the contract and excludes contractors who may or may not be involved. 3 The total cost of monitoring the listed scientific metrology contracts is £197,978. 
		
	
	Letter from John Alty, dated 17 July 2014
	I am responding in respect of the Intellectual Property Office to your Parliamentary Question, to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many contracts (a) let since 2010 and (b) about to be let by his Department and its agencies are worth (i) between £1 million and £3 million and (ii) over £3 million; how much has been spent on monitoring each contract let by his Department since 2010; and how many officials in his Department monitor each contract let since 2010 by his Department since 2010. (205195)
	Since 2010, the IPO has (a) let three contracts between £1 million and £3 million, and two contracts over £3 million, with one contract between £1 million and £3 million about to be let. Further information on IPO contracts numbers and values are published on Contracts Finder as part of the government transparency agenda.
	The IPO do not record how much has been spent on monitoring each contract let since 2010, or how many officials in the IPO monitor each contract let since 2010.

Property Searches

Toby Perkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the effect of centralising local land charges registers on small and medium-sized enterprises and micro-businesses currently providing such services as local land charges searches.

Matthew Hancock: A Regulatory Impact Assessment relating to the provision of Local Land Charges has been produced by Land Registry and approved by BIS and the Regulatory Policy Committee.
	http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/91627/LR_Impact-Assessment_Wider-Powers-and-LLC-Consultation_FINAL.pdf
	This takes into account the potential benefits of a fully digitised service with improved turnaround times, greater efficiencies and a lower fee for the customer. The Impact Assessment states that creating a single, digital Local Land Charges register will result in the significant majority of customers, including businesses, paying a lower fee per purchase for a faster service.

Property Searches

Toby Perkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what representations he has received on the effect of changes to be made in the Infrastructure Bill [Lords] on improving completion times for LLC1 local searches.

Matthew Hancock: Land Registry undertook a full public consultation on Local Land Charges and Wider Powers between 16 January 2014 and 9 March 2014. This consultation received 627 responses and the Government published its response on 16 June 2014.
	http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/91626/Govt-Response_Report-on-Wider-Powers-LLC-Consultation-16-6-14.pdf
	This response highlights all of the representations made by respondents. Land Registry has engaged extensively with stakeholders throughout its research into Local Land Charges and this engagement is ongoing.

Property Searches

Toby Perkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the effect on completion times for LLC1 local searches as a result of centralising the local land charges register in line with proposals in the Infrastructure Bill [Lords].

Matthew Hancock: Creating a single, digital Local Land Charges register will lead to a reduction in search turnaround times on average. Searches currently take between 1 and more than 20 days and Land Registry intends to reduce this to minutes. In 2013/14, Land Registry dealt with 11.5 million requests for registers of title and title plans, of which 98.2% were delivered electronically to the customer: Local Land Charges searches are similar and Land Registry will utilise its expertise to provide them in a similar way.

HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION

Computer Software

Thomas Docherty: To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission what assessment the Commission has made of the effectiveness to date of the introduction of Office 365; and on what evidence and measures the Commission based that assessment.

John Thurso: The Commission has made no formal assessment of the effectiveness to date of the introduction of Office 2013 and Microsoft 365 email.
	Parliamentary ICT (PICT) acknowledges that the implementation has not been as simple and straightforward as was hoped, and is aware that it has caused problems for some hon. Members. PICT is working to resolve most of these problems, the most common of which are described below. The lessons learned from these problems are being implemented to improve deployment and support arrangements. PICT apologises for the inconvenience experienced by hon. Members.
	Following the upgrade to Office 2013, PICT received a large number of support calls, including from users who found that the process of upgrading to Office 2013 remotely took much longer than expected. Some Members have also commented negatively on the look and feel of the new product.
	Access to 365 requires an update and reconfiguration of both desktops/laptops and mobile devices. In some cases the upgrade to the desktop and user profile has needed adjustment once the migration has been completed. In a greater number of cases hon. Members who have mobile devices have required assistance to reconfigure the devices to receive the 365 services. All BlackBerry owners have needed assistance to do this because it is a technical task and, depending upon the ownership of the model and its software version, some hon. Members have had real difficulty with the migration process.
	365 has a limit on the number of people who can be added to a single email distribution list, and some hon. Members have found this causes difficulty. PICT have offered assistance and advice has been offered to work around this issue.
	Once successfully migrated, the Office 365 service offers significant benefits to users, including a much larger email box, an easier to use login process, and access to services from any location and device as long as there is an internet connection and a modern browser.

CABINET OFFICE

Alcoholic Drinks

Kevan Jones: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what his Department’s policy is on alcohol consumption on the premises (a) in general and (b) during parties being held in his Private Office.

Francis Maude: There is no prohibition of alcohol in my Department. This includes ministerial and official private offices.

Government Departments: Legal Opinion

Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office whether the Government offers non-executive directors of government-owned companies or arm’s-length bodies independent legal advice if they believe a conflict of interest may arise if such advice is provided internally by Government Departments.

Francis Maude: Government-owned companies and arm’s length bodies are responsible for obtaining their own legal advice; some may obtain legal advice from Government Departments.
	Potential conflicts of interest are considered on a case by case basis.

Mass Media: Subscriptions

Kevan Jones: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the cost is of each subscription to (a) magazines and (b) television channels his Department funds.

Francis Maude: Expenditure incurred by my Department on subscription to magazines can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
	I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Barnsley East (Michael Dugher) on 8 October 2013, Official Report, column 170W.

Procurement

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  how much No. 10 Downing street paid to (a) G4S, (b) Serco, (c) Sodexo, (d) GEOAmey, (e) Capita, (f) Atos, (g) Mitie, (h) Working Links, (i) A4E, (j) MTC Amey, (k) GEO Group and (l) Carillion in (i) 2010-11, (ii) 2011-12, (iii) 2012-13 and (iv) 2013-14;
	(2)  how much the Deputy Prime Minister's Office paid to (a) G4S, (b) Serco, (c) Sodexo, (d) GEOAmey, (e) Capita, (f) Atos, (g) Mitie, (h) Working Links, (i) A4E, (j) MTC Amey, (k) GEO Group and (l) Carillion in (i) 2010-11, (ii) 2011-12, (iii) 2012-13 and (iv) 2013-14.

Francis Maude: The Prime Minister’s Office and the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office are an integral part of the Cabinet Office.
	As part of my Department’s transparency programme, any spend over £25,000 is available on the Department’s website. Since January 2011, all contracts over £10,000 in value are published on Contracts Finder
	http://www.contractsfinder.co.uk/

Procurement: EU Law

Jon Trickett: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what cross-governmental guidance his Department has issued on new European procurement directives.

Francis Maude: Hon. Members can monitor progress via the transposition page at:
	https://www.gov.uk/transposing-eu-procurement-directives

Social Networking

Kevan Jones: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many Twitter accounts are run by his Department; how much his Department spends annually on (a) Twitter accounts and (b) all social media; and how many people in his Department are employed to work on social media.

Francis Maude: A list of official Twitter accounts run by Cabinet Office, including those used by senior officials, can be found at:
	https://twitter.com/cabinetofficeuk/cabinet-office-teams/members
	The Department also runs the @Number10gov and @Number10press accounts.
	No member of staff is employed to specifically work on social media.

Third Sector

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office 
	(1)  who has received funding for organising the 2014 Big Society Awards; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  when he expects to hold the 2014 Big Society Awards; and if he will make a statement.

Francis Maude: All Big Society Award winners are listed on:
	www.bigsocietyawards.org

Training

Kevan Jones: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many away days his Department has held for its officials in (a) 2013 and (b) 2014 to date; and what the cost of each such event has been.

Francis Maude: 11 away days were held outside of the Cabinet Office Estate in 2013. These cost a total of £19,386.
	One away day has been held outside of the Cabinet Office Estate so far in 2014. This cost £668.
	It is worth noting that although complete data for the Cabinet Office prior to 2010 is not available, this Department's spend on away days was at least £227,680 in 2009-10.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Broadband: Rural Areas

Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what progress his Department has made in upgrading fibre-optic broadband infrastructure in (a) Copeland and (b) other rural areas.

Edward Vaizey: The Cumbria project will deliver superfast broadband to nearly 110,000 premises in Cumbria by March 2015. The local broadband project team provide information about the roll-out timetable, including a postcode checker on the local authority website, which can be found at:
	http://www.connectingcumbria.org.uk/when-and-where
	With respect to the Copeland area, the local project team report that, combined with the BT commercial roll out, it has already delivered superfast broadband to 10,500 premises to date. By June 2015, the fibre broadband roll-out will be completed and in Copeland over 90% of premises will have access to superfast broadband. To date, the Connecting Cumbria project has delivered superfast broadband to nearly 40,000 and the national programme has delivered to over 600,000 premises and that number will rise to 1 million by the end of summer.

Broadband: West Yorkshire

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when Superfast West Yorkshire will be (a) finished and (b) ready to use by businesses in Green Lane Industrial Estate, in Featherstone; and what assessment he has made of the length of time taken to complete this work.

Edward Vaizey: I am satisfied that the West Yorkshire project is on scheduled to deliver, within the agreed timetable, superfast broadband to nearly 59,000 premises in West Yorkshire by September 2015. The local broadband project team provide information about the roll-out timetable, including a postcode checker on the local authority website, which can be found at:
	http://www.superfastwestyorkshire.co.uk/coverage
	With respect to the Green Lane Industrial Estate, my Department has been informed the local cabinet connecting that site is scheduled to be upgraded to fibre broadband by the end of September 2014.

Public Libraries

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will estimate the total number of books currently held in public libraries.

Edward Vaizey: The annual public library statistics compiled by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy based on information provided by the individual library authorities indicates that the total book stock for public libraries in England at 31 March 2013 was 72.4 million.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Access to Work Programme

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what evaluation his Department has conducted of effects of changes made to the Access to Work scheme since 2010.

Esther McVey: A formal evaluation of the changes has not been conducted; but we have made a range of positive changes over the last two years and have seen an increase in the number of people helped and an increase in expenditure.

Buildings

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much has been spent on refurbishing (a) gymnasium and leisure facilities, (b) cafeteria and (c) interior decoration in (i) his Department and (ii) buildings owned by his Department in (A) 2013 and (B) 2014 to date.

Mark Harper: Since 1998 the Department occupies the majority of its accommodation under a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) known as the PRIME Contract. Under the terms of the contract, the Department sold all its property interests (and risk) to our Estates private sector partner, Telereal Trillium. The Department does not, therefore, own any property but occupies fully serviced accommodation in return for the payment of a unitary charge.
	The unitary charge includes payment for all Life Cycle Works which covers the maintenance and upkeep of facilities including interior redecoration. It is not possible to disaggregate the costs for individual maintenance tasks.
	We have not spent any monies (outside of the unitary charge) on refurbishing (a) gymnasium and leisure facilities, (b) cafeteria and (c) interior decoration in 2013 or 2014 to date.

Carers

Anne Begg: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of kinship carers who are (a) affected by the under-occupancy penalty and (b) in receipt of discretionary housing payments.

Esther McVey: The information requested is not available.
	Local authorities administer discretionary housing payments. Decisions are based on claimants’ individual circumstances. This may include consideration of the specific circumstances that have led to the need for a kinship carer. DWP guidance recommends that local authorities give priority to foster and kinship carers (in Scotland) in allocating discretionary housing payments if more than one extra bedroom is required. Regulations already allow an additional bedroom for foster and kinship (in Scotland) carers.

Carers

Anne Begg: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will take steps to ensure that kinship carers with children aged under 18 are exempted from conditionality requirements; and if he will make a statement.

Esther McVey: Where work-related requirements do apply, work coaches should already take account of a person’s caring responsibilities and the particular circumstances of kinship carers who have older children—for example, ensuring that the work coach considers the impact of any Residence Orders or Special Guardianship Orders on a claimant’s capacity to look and be available for work.

Carers

Anne Begg: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the number of kinship carers in receipt of employment support allowance;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the number of kinship carers who are subject to conditionality requirements under job seeker's allowance.

Esther McVey: The information requested is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Conditions of Employment

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to the answer of 2 April 2014, Official Report, column 722W, on conditions of employment, whether current guidelines allow claimants through Jobcentre Plus to be found zero-hours contract jobs which include exclusivity clauses.

Esther McVey: No claimants are required to sign up for zero hour contracts which require exclusivity.

Domestic Visits: Wrexham

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the purpose was of his visit to Wrexham Benefit Centre on 7 July 2014.

Esther McVey: When the Secretary of State is visiting a region, if his diary allows, he also likes to visit local DWP staff.

Jobseeker's Allowance

Jake Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make it his policy to move vulnerable people without the capability for work from jobseeker's allowance onto a more permanent form of benefit.

Esther McVey: It is already the case that people who have limited capability for work receive Employment and Support Allowance rather than Jobseeker's Allowance. However, we should not see this as a permanent form of benefit as it is our policy that nobody should be written off.

Land

Heidi Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much land his Department has released for the purpose of building new homes since May 2010.

Mark Harper: The Department does not own any buildings or land for release.

Mass Media: Subscriptions

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what subscriptions to (a) magazines and (b) television channels his Department funds.

Mark Harper: The information is as follows:
	(a) Subscriptions to magazines are included within the Department’s contracts for journals and newspapers. The Department receives the following titles via these contracts:
	Net
	Able Magazine
	Adviser
	BMJ—British Medical Journal—General Practice Edition—Internet
	Bookseller—Internet
	Business Transfers and Employee Rights
	Butterworths Civil Court Precedents
	Civil Service World
	Community Care
	Common Market Law Review—Print and Internet
	Community Care Law Reports
	Credit Collections and Risk
	Credit Today
	Current Law Complete Service A
	Daily Express
	Daily Mail
	Daily Mirror
	Daily Star
	Daily Telegraph
	Disability and Rehabilitation—Full Set—Internet and Print
	Disability and Society—Internet
	Economist—Internet and Print
	Encyclopedia of Data Protection and Privacy—Including CD ROM
	Equal Opportunities Review
	Equality Law Reports—E-Mail and Internet and Optional Print
	EU Public Procurement—Law and Practice
	European Journal of Social Security—Internet
	European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology—Print and Internet
	Financial Times
	Freedom of Information Journal—E-Mail
	Gazette—Law Society London
	Guardian
	Health and Safety Bulletin
	Health Service Journal
	Housing Studies—Internet
	Housing Theory and Society—Online Archive Incl Current Year—Internet
	Human Rights Practice
	IDS Pensions Law Reports
	In House Lawyer
	Independent
	Independent on Sunday
	Inside Housing
	International and United Kingdom Report—Privacy Laws and Business
	International Journal of Housing Policy—Internet
	Journal of Community Care Law
	Journal of Social Security Law
	Journal of Welfare Benefits Law and Practice
	Judicial Review
	Juncture—Internet
	Kemp and Kemp—Quantum of Damages
	Legal Action—Legal Action Group
	Mail on Sunday
	Medical Law Reports—Academic—Internet and Print and Bound Volume
	Mental Health Law Review
	Modern Law Review—Print and Internet
	Money Marketing—London
	NAPF Pension Legislation Service—including CD ROM
	National Institute Economic Review—Internet
	New Law Journal
	New Statesman
	Newsweek
	Observer
	Occupational Pensions
	Oxford Economic Papers—Internet
	Pensions Management
	Pensions Expert
	Pensions World
	Private Eye
	Professional Pensions—Print and Internet
	Public Private Partnership and PFI
	Records Management Journal—Print and Internet
	Renton and Brown—Criminal Procedure
	Renton and Brown—Criminal Procedure Legislation
	SEN Magazine
	Social Care Law Today
	Social Policy and Society and Journal of Social Policy—Print and Internet
	Solicitors' Journal
	Spectator
	Sun
	Sun on Sunday
	Sunday Express
	Sunday Mirror
	Sunday People
	Sunday Telegraph
	Sunday Times
	Sweet and Maxwell's Law of Pension Schemes
	Time Magazine
	Times
	Tolley's Pensions Law Service
	Tolley's Social Security and State Benefits
	Transfer of Undertaking
	Vacher's Quarterly
	Welfare Rights Bulletin
	Work and Stress—Internet
	Work Employment and Society—Print and Backfile Lease—Internet
	Working Brief—PDF—E-Mail
	(b) This information is not centrally collated and could not be provided without incurring disproportionate costs.

Pension Credit: Warrington

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in (a) Warrington and (b) Warrington North constituency were in receipt of pension credit in each year from 2008-09.

Steve Webb: Statistics on pension credit are available from 100% data and are published on the Department’s website at:
	http://tabulation-tool.dwp.gov.uk/100pc/pc/tabtool_pc.html
	Guidance for users is available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-tabulation-tool-guidance

Personal Independence Payment

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many claims for personal independence payments submitted by individuals in Hemsworth in 2013 are still yet to be determined; and what steps his Department has taken to reduce delays in processing personal independence payment claims.

Mark Harper: There are several reasons why a registered claim may not yet be determined. For example, the claimant has not yet returned their additional information form or is awaiting their assessment date, DWP have not yet made a decision on their claim or the claimant has advised that they wish to withdraw their claim. At the end of December 2013, around 500 people in Hemsworth had registered a new claim for PIP and around 100 decisions had been made.
	I also refer the hon. Member to the written answer the previous Minister for Disabled People, my right hon. Friend the Member for Hemel Hempstead (Mike Penning), gave to the hon. Member for Halton (Derek Twigg), on 7 July 2014, Official Report, column 110W.

Personal Independence Payment

Michael Dugher: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many claims for independence payments submitted by people in (a) England, (b) South Yorkshire, (c) Barnsley and (d) Barnsley East constituency have taken longer than 11 weeks to be determined.

Mark Harper: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the former Minister for Disabled People, the right hon. Member for Hemel Hempstead (Mike Penning), on 8 July 2014, Official Report, column 278W.

Procurement

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much and what proportion of his Department's budget was spent on activities which were contracted out in (a) 2009-10, (b) 2010-11, (c) 2011-12, (d) 2012-13 and (e) 2013-14; and how much and what proportion of his Department's budget he expects to be contracted out in 2014-15.

Mark Harper: Contracted out expenditure has been interpreted as all third party expenditure. Figures are net of income and recoverable VAT. Figures cover the central Department and its non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs).
	The relevant figures for the periods 2012-13; 2013-14; and, 2014-15 taken from our General Ledger are set out as follows.
	
		
			  2012-13 Outturn 2013-14 Outturn 2014-15 Plans 
			 Commercial Expenditure (£ million) 3,211 3,102 3,187 
			 Proportion of total DEL Expenditure (percentage) 41 39 40 
		
	
	Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) expenditure has been used to calculate the proportion of total expenditure. These figures have been taken from the Department’s Annual Reports and Accounts 2013-14, Annex 7 – Expenditure Tables.
	Data are not available for prior years on a comparable basis. The Department has changed the way it reports commercial expenditure in the last couple of years, which makes later years incomparable with earlier years.

Procurement

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many contracts (a) his Department and (b) its agencies and non-departmental public bodies (i) have let and (ii) plan to let that are worth (A) between £1 million and £3 million and (B) over £3 million since 2010; how much his Department has spent on monitoring each such contract; and how many officials in his Department monitor each contract.

Mark Harper: Between 1 January 2010 and 14 July 2014, the Department for Work and Pensions awarded 71 contracts with a value of between £1 million and £3 million and 191 contracts with a value of over £3 million.
	At 14 July 2014, our current commercial planning data indicates we intend to let 47 contracts with a value of between £1 million and £3 million and 30 contracts with a value over £3 million.
	The award timelines on future contracts stretches to 2017 and beyond. As conditions change, some of these contracts may not yet proceed to the procurement stage. Also, award values are not yet firm for those at the earliest of planning stages.
	The Department does not record the numbers of staff and their length of assignment in monitoring individual contracts, therefore the answer to this part of the question could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	Between 1 January 2010 and 14 July 2014, the non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) awarded the following contracts within the requested values:
	
		
			 NDPB Number of contracts with Contract Value £1 million-£3 million Number of Contracts with Contract Value over £3 million 
			 Pensions Ombudsman 1 0 
			 The Pensions Advisory Service 0 0 
			 The Pensions Regulator (TPR) 2 1 
			 Health and Safety Executive (HSE) 3 3 
			 National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) 1 2 
			 Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) 0 0 
			 Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC) 0 0 
			 Independent Living Fund (ILF) 0 0 
		
	
	Pensions Ombudsman estimate the cost of monitoring its contract at £7,000 per annum with a dedicated resource of 0.1 FTE.
	TPR have a planned contract to start in 2014-15 value £1 million-£3 million.
	TPR do not hold information regarding the total amount spent on monitoring the contracts and it would be disproportionate for it to calculate this. However, it has 2 FTE staff dedicated to monitoring the contract valued over £3 million.
	NEST-The Scheme Administration Services contract has a Contract Manager (commencing August 2014) and is supported by a Procurement and Contract Specialist.
	HSE is in the process of letting one contract with a value of between £1 million and £3 million.
	HSE does not record the numbers of staff and their length of assignment in monitoring individual contracts, therefore the answer to this part of the question could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Schools: Asbestos

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what discussions he or his ministerial colleagues have had with the Department for Education about the prevalence of asbestos in schools.

Mark Harper: There have been no such discussions at ministerial level. However, DWP Ministers have been informed of significant work that HSE has done to assist the Department for Education's review of their policy on asbestos in schools. For example, HSE has in the last three years conducted initiatives on the standard of management of asbestos in schools and copies of the reports have been provided to DFE and published.

Social Security Benefits: Ayr

Sandra Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock constituency have had their benefit sanctioned in each of the last 12 months.

Esther McVey: The available information as requested is shown in the following table.
	
		
			 Number of individuals with an adverse benefit sanction applied in Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock parliamentary constituency by each month, January to December 2013 
			  Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock parliamentary constituency 
			 January 2013 160 
			 February 2013 100 
			 March 2013 130 
			 April 2013 160 
			 May 2013 160 
			 June 2013 150 
			 July 2013 180 
			 August 2013 180 
			 September 2013 160 
			 October 2013 190 
			 November 2013 210 
			 December 2013 150 
			 Notes: 1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10. 2. The number of benefit sanctions applied is the number of claimants with a sanction or disallowance referral where the decision was found against them for those in receipt of jobseeker's allowance, employment and support allowance and income support for lone parents. 3. Figures may include individuals who have been sanctioned in more than one month, ie if the same individual had received adverse sanction referrals in May and November, they would appear in both months in the above table. 4. Data is up to December 2013 which is the latest available. 5. Income support lone parents receive a fixed sanction of 20% of the personal allowance rate of a single claimant (not aged less than 25) for each failure to attend/participate in a Work Focused Interview until 10p is left in payment. This sanction lasts until the individual attends and participates in a work focused interview. In the case where there is more than one sanction in place the claimant need only attend/participate in one work focused interview in order for all related sanctions to be removed from their benefit. 6. New sanctions rules came into force for JSA and ESA from 22 October 2012 and 3 December 2012. The number of JSA sanctions applied for the new regime is the number of low, intermediate, and high level referrals where the decision was found against the claimant. Further information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/jobseekers-allowance-overview-of-sanctions-rules 7. The information for JSA and ESA sanctions is published at: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/ Source (JSA and ESA): DWP Information, Governance and Security Directorate: Sanctions and Disallowance Decisions Statistics Database. Source (IS): Income Support Computer System

Social Security Benefits: Disability

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will publish the most recent information on the amount of time taken by (a) Atos and (b) Capita to process claims for disability benefits in different regions and constituency parts of the UK.

Mark Harper: We have interpreted your question as being in respect of Personal Independence Payment, as the question relates to Atos and Capita processing disability benefits.
	Information relating to Personal Independence Payment processing times is not currently available. Statistics on processing times are intended for future publication but releasing them at this stage would give an incorrect representation of the process since the system has not yet reached maturity, and further quality assurance of the data is required.

Training

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many awaydays his Department has held for officials in (a) 2013 and (b) 2014 to date; and what the cost was of each such event.

Mark Harper: The Department for Work and Pensions does not have a separate or identifiable account code in departmental finance records to distinguish expenditure on staff away days. Details of such expenditure could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Unemployment: Young People

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many 16 to 24 years olds were referred by Jobcentre Plus to the Movement to Work initiative in 2013.

Esther McVey: Movement to Work is an employer-led initiative and Jobcentre Plus does not collect information on the number of referrals made.

Universal Credit

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of universal claimants who will be self-employed once universal credit is fully rolled out.

Esther McVey: It is estimated that there will be approximately 600,000 households with at least one individual whose main employment is self-employment entitled to Universal Credit when it is fully rolled out.

Work Programme

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Work Programme for young black men.

Esther McVey: The proportion of Job Outcomes achieved across the ethnicity groups is consistent with the proportion of referrals, attachments and Job Outcomes on the Work Programme as a whole.
	A detailed breakdown of Work Programme referrals, attachments and Job Outcomes by ethnicity can be found at:
	http://tabulation-tool.dwp.gov.uk/WorkProg/tabtool.html
	Guidance for users is available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-tabulation-tool-guidance

Work Programme

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans his Department has for officials to canvass customer feedback from Work programme participants; and if he will make a statement.

Esther McVey: DWP has commissioned a consortium of independent research organisations to undertake a comprehensive evaluation of the Work programme, which includes research with participants. A report of findings from research in 2012 has been published at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/work-programme-evaluation-findings-from-the-first-phase-of-qualitative-research-on-programme-delivery-rr821
	A further report is currently planned for publication at the end of 2014.

LEADER OF THE HOUSE

Pay

Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Leader of the House how many officials employed by his Office, of each grade, have remained at that grade since 2010 but received a pay rise; and how much of a rise each such person at each such grade has received.

William Hague: The Office of the Leader of the House of Commons is part of the Cabinet Office. I refer the right hon. Member to the answer by the Minister for the Cabinet Office of 16 July 2014, Official Report,column 734W.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL

Confiscation Orders

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General what the value is of outstanding debt under confiscation orders obtained by the Crown Prosecution Service; and what recent estimate he has made of how much such debt is realistically recoverable.

Oliver Heald: As of 3 April 2014 the total amount of outstanding debt in confiscation orders where the CPS was the lead enforcer was £501,450,120 (excluding interest). 31.8% of this debt has been assessed as recoverable which relates to £159,416,384.

Convictions

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General what the conviction rates were in the magistrates' courts for cases prosecuted by (a) Crown prosecutors and (b) paralegals in each of the last five years.

Oliver Heald: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not maintain a central record of the number or outcome of prosecutions conducted by Crown Prosecutors or Associate Prosecutors (paralegals) in magistrates courts. To obtain details of the conviction rates for each would require a manual exercise of reviewing individual case files to be undertaken at a disproportionate cost.

CPS Direct

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General in how many and what proportion of CPS Direct-charged cases the charge was subsequently (a) varied, (b) dropped pre-trial, (c) subject to a prosecution decision to offer no evidence at trial and (d) dismissed by the court in 2013-14 and each of the three preceding years.

Oliver Heald: The CPS holds no central records of the number of cases where one, or more, charge was varied subsequent to a charging decision made by CPS Direct.
	The proportion of cases dropped by the CPS in cases where the original charging decision was made by CPS Direct is as follows:
	
		
			  2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 
			 Number of dropped CPSD cases charged 19,107 17,423 14,959 22,944 
			 Percentage of CPSD Charged cases dropped 15.90 15.30 14.90 14.30 
		
	
	No record is held of the number of cases where the prosecution decided to offer no evidence specifically at trial.
	The following table shows the number and proportion of prosecutions where the original charging decision was made by CPS Direct which subsequently resulted in a judge directed acquittal or the court dismissing the case at trial, either of its own motion, or on a defence submission of no case to answer, without hearing evidence for the defence.
	
		
			  2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 
			 Number of CPSD cases—JDA or NCTA 512 531 444 760 
			 Percentage of CPSD Charged cases—JDA or NCTA 0.40 0.50 0.40 0.50 
			 Key: JDA—Judge Directed Acquittal NCTA—No Case to Answer 
		
	
	Included here are cases where an acceptable guilty plea was submitted for one or more charges and the prosecution proceeded on other charges which resulted in a judge directed acquittal or a verdict of no case to answer.

Criminal Proceedings

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General what proportion of cases were charged by (a) the police, (b) the Crown Prosecution Service and (c) another agency in (i) 2013-14 and (ii) each of the previous three financial years.

Oliver Heald: The Director’s Guidance on Charging, issued under the provisions of S37A of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE), sets out the requirements for police officers and prosecutors during the investigation and prosecution of criminal cases, including those offences which the police and the CPS are responsible for the charge decision.
	Under these arrangements the police are responsible for the charge decision in approximately 70% of all cases, with the CPS retaining the decision to charge in the remaining 30% of cases which are the most complex and serious. The CPS is responsible for making the charging decisions in cases brought by other agencies such as DWP, HMRC and DEFRA.
	The proportions for the last three years are as follows:
	
		
			 Percentage 
			  Police Charged CPS Charged 
			 2011-12 68.4 31.6 
			 2012-13 71.0 29.0 
			 2013-14 69.0 31.0

Criminal Proceedings

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General what proportion of police-charged cases in each of the last three financial years were subsequently subject to a (a) decision by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to vary the charge, (b) decision by the CPS to drop the charge, (c) decision by the CPS to offer no evidence, (d) dismissal by the court on grounds of no-case to answer and (e) dismissal by the court after trial.

Oliver Heald: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not hold data that would allow the identification of individual charges that had been varied at any point from the original charge.
	The proportion of Police charged cases that resulted in the other requested outcomes are as follows:
	
		
			 Percentage 
			  2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 
			 Dropped (includes offered no evidence) 7.7 8.1 8.3 
			 Offered no evidence 2.1 2.5 2.6 
			 No case to answer (incl. mixed pleas) 0.1 0.1 0.2 
			 Dismissed after summary trial (incl. mixed pleas) 1.8 2.1 2.4

Public Expenditure

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General how much the (a) Serious Fraud Office and (b) Crown Prosecution Service spent on (i) travel, (ii) furniture and fittings and (iii) any dilapidation claims arising from the quitting of premises in each year since 2008.

Oliver Heald: The Serious Fraud Office moved from its premises at Elm House on Elm Street and part of the ITN building on Gray's Inn Road at the end of 2012. It is now located on one site in Cockspur Street.
	The information requested is set out in the following table. There were no relevant costs in 2008-09 or 2009-10.
	
		
			 £000 
			  2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 
			 Travel — — 9 24 
			 Furniture and fittings — — 23 — 
			 Dilapidations 750 290 — — 
		
	
	The Crown Prosecution Service spent the following amounts on furniture and fittings and dilapidations in each year since 2008.
	
		
			 £000 
			  2013-14 2012-13 2011-12 2010-11 2009-10 2008-09 
			 Furniture and Fittings 386 497 957 4,210 4,462 3,197 
			 Dilapidations 1,992 917 1,595 201 362 185 
		
	
	Expenditure incurred on dilapidations occurred as a result of quitting premises. Expenditure on furniture and fittings covers all such expenditure. To identify spend that relates solely and specifically to quitting premises would involve the checking of thousands of invoices and would incur a disproportionate cost.
	From records held it is also not possible to identify spend on travel arising from quitting premises without incurring a disproportionate cost.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Alcoholic Drinks

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his Department's policy is on the consumption of alcohol during social occasions held in his private office.

Tobias Ellwood: Consumption of alcohol is permitted in FCO premises for social occasions amongst FCO staff. Staff are responsible for the cost of alcohol and refreshments for these events. The Department has a zero tolerance policy on the misuse of alcohol by FCO employees.

Bahrain

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment his Department has made of the human rights situation in Bahrain.

Tobias Ellwood: I refer my hon. Friend to my answer of 26 June 2014, Official Report, column 253W.

Burma

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the Burmese government on a ceasefire in conflict zones and the withdrawal of military forces.

Hugo Swire: We are supporting the continued peace talks between the Burmese Government and ethnic armed groups and the agreement to work towards a nationwide ceasefire and political dialogue. However, we remain concerned by continued fighting in Kachin State and Northern Shan State, and reports of human rights violations.
	I discussed the peace process with the Burmese Government and the military Commander in Chief during my visit to Burma in January 2014, and in Kachin with the army’s Northern Commander and ethnic and religious leaders. Our ambassador in Rangoon regularly raises both our concerns and our support for a sustainable peace through ceasefire and political dialogue with Burmese Government Ministers, officials and ethnic leaders.

Burma

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will raise with the Burmese authorities the arrest and sentencing to 10 years hard labour of journalists in that country.

Hugo Swire: We welcome the overall widening of media freedom under this Burmese Government. However, we are deeply concerned by the intimidation, detention and sentencing of several reporters in Burma in recent months, which contrary to the longer positive trend is further restricting Burma’s media environment.
	Our ambassador has raised our concerns about the detention of journalists with Deputy Minister of Information Ye Htut, and the cases of the five journalists sentenced to 10 years hard labour were also discussed during the first EU-Burma Human Rights Dialogue in May. We will continue to raise the issue of media freedom in discussions with the Burmese Government and in international fora.

Burma

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received of recent changes in the Burmese authorities' attitude to freedom of expression.

Hugo Swire: We welcome the overall widening of media freedom under this Burmese Government. However, we are deeply concerned by the intimidation, detention and sentencing of several reporters in Burma in recent months, which contrary to the longer positive trend is further restricting Burma’s media environment.
	Our ambassador has raised our concerns about the detention of journalists with Deputy Minister of Information Ye Htut, and the cases of the five journalists sentenced to 10 years hard labour were also discussed during the first EU-Burma Human Rights Dialogue in May. We will continue to raise the issue of media freedom in discussions with the Burmese Government and in international fora.

Central African Republic

Stephen Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the security situation in the Central African Republic.

Mark Simmonds: The security situation in the Central African Republic (CAR) continues to be severely unstable. Sectarian violence continues, and there is widespread displacement of civilians. The UK is playing a strong role as part of the international community’s response. We provided early support to the deployment of the African Union mission (MISCA), as well as to the EU security mission (EUFOR), and co-sponsored the UN Security Council Resolution that authorised a UN Peacekeeping Operation (PKO), which will deploy in September. Through DFID, the UK has also provided £23 million in humanitarian aid to a range of NGOs and UN agencies, providing access to protection, food, water and sanitation, shelter and healthcare.

Middle East

Khalid Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to decrease violence between Israel and Palestine.

Tobias Ellwood: I refer to the statement made by the then Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), to the House on 14 July 2014, Official Report, column 581-83.

Middle East

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the implications for his policy of the report by the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs on the number of casualties among young people and other civilians during the recent Israeli military operation in Gaza.

Tobias Ellwood: I refer the hon. Member to the Statement on Gaza made by the then Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), to the House on 14 July 2014, Official Report, columns 581-83.
	This statement both underlines the terrible human cost of the conflict and outlines our policy objectives to end this cycle of violence and devastation once and for all. Our objectives are to secure a ceasefire, to alleviate humanitarian suffering and to keep alive the prospects for peace negotiations.

Middle East

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received of the number of Palestinian civilian casualties during the recent Israeli military operation in Gaza.

Tobias Ellwood: I refer the hon. Member to the statement on Gaza made by the then Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), to the House on 14 July 2014, Official Report, columns 581-83.
	As of the morning of 16 July, it is reported that 197 Palestinian civilians have been killed in Gaza and up to 1,265 injured since Israel started Operation Protective Edge. The UN estimates that 77% of those killed are civilians.

Recruitment

Sheila Gilmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the cost was of his Department's Black and Minority Ethnic campaign.

Tobias Ellwood: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) spent £21,968 on the Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Campaign in the financial year 2013-14, excluding staff costs. We expect to spend a further £20,000 in financial Year 2014-15.
	The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is committed to promoting diversity and inclusion for all its employees. Further diversity and equality information is available from the FCO’s Diversity and Equality Report.

Secondment

Sheila Gilmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many staff of his Department have been seconded to (a) other Ministries of Foreign Affairs and (b) international organisations in each year since 2010; and to which (i) other Ministries of Foreign Affairs and (ii) international organisations such staff have been seconded.

Tobias Ellwood: Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) staff can be seconded to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) or international organisations on agreement between the Directorate, Post and the MFA or international organisations. These secondments are a valuable tool for the FCO to meet objectives, increase ties with partner Governments or international organisations and develop staff skills and experience.
	There is no centrally held record of each of these secondments since 2010 and to answer this question would incur disproportionate costs.

Secondment

Sheila Gilmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many secondees from which other Ministries of Foreign Affairs his Department has received in each year since 2010.

Tobias Ellwood: Foreign Service Officers from other Ministries of Foreign Affairs (MFA) are seconded to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) on agreement between the Directorate, Post and MFA. These secondments are a valuable tool for the FCO to meet objectives and increase ties with partner Governments.
	There is no centrally held record of each of these secondments since 2010 and to answer this question would incur disproportionate costs.

Training

Sheila Gilmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many individuals in his Department have participated in (a) disability awareness and (b) lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender training in each year since 2010.

Tobias Ellwood: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s (FCO) Disability Policy and Support Team arrange disability awareness sessions for staff. Between September 2010 and June 2014 we held 205 sessions reaching an estimated 2,460 staff as follows:
	
		
			  Sessions Staff 
			 2010 12 144 
			 2011 68 816 
			 2012 61 732 
			 2013 50 600 
			 2014 14 168 
		
	
	The Civil Service Learning (CSL) Disability Awareness and their Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) awareness e-learning courses were made available from February 2013 and April 2013 respectively. Based on those staff completing evaluation records, at least 142 staff have completed these so far as follows:
	Disability Awareness e-learning: 2013 – 51; January to 10 July 2014 – 30.
	LGBT Awareness e-learning: 2013 – 28; January to 10 July 2014 – 33.
	FCO staff associations for people with disabilities (ENABLE) and LGBT staff (FLAGG) also hold regular awareness raising sessions and external speaker events each year, across a range of topics, which all staff are welcome to attend. Further information on FCO initiatives to promote diversity and equality information is available in the FCO’s Diversity and Equality Report.

Training

Sheila Gilmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what professional courses civil servants in his Department have attended since 2010; and how many officials attended each such course.

Tobias Ellwood: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Member for Faversham and Mid Kent (Hugh Robertson), 14 July 2014, Official Report, column 483W.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Afghanistan

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the answer of 11 June 2014, Official Report, column 181W, on Afghanistan, for what reason her Department did not engage with the Afghan Investment Support Agency on the Bost airfield project.

Justine Greening: The Bost Airfield and Agri-Business Park project comprised two separate components. On the airfield upgrade component, DFID worked closely with the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation, which operates airfields and airports in Afghanistan, to complete the upgrade. All works have now been handed over to the relevant authorities.

Alcoholic Drinks

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what her Department's policy is on alcohol consumption on the premises (a) in general and (b) during parties in her Private Office.

Lynne Featherstone: I refer the hon. Member to the answer provided today by the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, my right hon. Friend the Member for Horsham (Mr Maude).

Buildings

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much has been spent on refurbishing (a) gymnasium and leisure facilities, (b) cafeteria and (c) interior decoration within (i) her Department and (ii) buildings owned by her Department in (A) 2013 and (B) 2014 to date.

Lynne Featherstone: No refurbishment was made to facilities in 2014.
	The east Kilbride office carried out refurbishment to facilities mentioned at a cost of £5,790 during 2013.

Commonwealth

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will takes steps to adapt her Department’s budget to favour Commonwealth countries.

Lynne Featherstone: DFID’s development programming is concerned with extreme poverty everywhere, but the Department focuses its financial investments on poor people in countries where extreme poverty is currently a problem, with relatively weak future prospects of the poor, and for which a self-financed exit from poverty is not feasible at this stage.
	DFID has 28 priority countries, 14 of which are Commonwealth countries. The UK is committed to its strong relationships with the countries of the Commonwealth and in the financial year 2013-14, approximately one third of the Department’s bilateral expenditure went to Commonwealth countries. These figures exclude the UK Government’s contribution to multilateral organisations and regional programmes which also benefit Commonwealth countries.

Developing Countries: Climate Change

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will support the inclusion in the Sustainable Development Goals of a standalone goal on climate change, in addition to targets on environmental sustainability integrated across the framework, accompanied by a measure to keep the rise in global temperatures at 2° C on pre-industrialisation levels.

Justine Greening: The UK supports a target to hold the increase in global average temperature below a 2° C rise in accordance with international agreements.
	The final targets in the post-2015 development framework will, however, be subject to international negotiations in the United Nations, in which the UK will play an active role.

Developing Countries: Health Services

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will support the inclusion of universal health coverage in the goal on health in the Sustainable Development Goals.

Justine Greening: The UK supports a post-2015 target on universal health coverage. This language is included in the most recent draft goals and targets list released by the co-chairs of the Open Working Group (OWG) on 2 June.
	The final targets in the post-2015 development framework will be subject to international negotiations in the United Nations, in which the UK will play an active role.

Developing Countries: Poverty

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will support the inclusion in the Sustainable Development Goals of a target on reducing the number of people living on less than $2 a day under the goal on poverty.

Justine Greening: The UK supports a target to reduce the number of people living on less than $1.25 a day and a target on reducing poverty according to national definitions. This language is included in the most recent draft goals and targets list released by the co-chairs of the Open Working Group (OWG) on 2 June.
	The final targets in the post-2015 development framework will, however, be subject to international negotiations in the United Nations, in which the UK will play an active role.

Developing Countries: Sustainable Development

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development with reference to the report of the High Level panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, what steps she is taking to ensure that the pledge to leave no-one behind is effectively translated into the target language of the proposed Sustainable Development Goals.

Justine Greening: The UK, through our Troika, have made statements in the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals on the importance of “leaving no one behind” as an overarching principle for the post-2015 framework.
	The final goals and targets in the post-2015 development framework will be subject to international negotiations in the United Nations, in which the UK will play an active role.

Mass Media: Subscriptions

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what subscriptions to (a) magazines and (b) television channels her Department funds; and what the annual cost is of each of those subscriptions.

Lynne Featherstone: DFID’s communications team subscribes to following magazines:
	
		
			  £ per annum 
			 The Economist 136 
			 The Spectator 129 
			 The New Statesman 92 
			 The New Scientist 149 
			 Private Eye 28 
			 Marketing Magazine 155 
			 PR Week 99.50 
			 PR Week Global 119.50 
		
	
	A figure for magazine subscriptions across the entire Department cannot be compiled from our accounting records without incurring disproportionate cost.
	Television channels are paid for via the parliamentary feed. DFID pays £6,728.90 each year for maintenance of the parliamentary TV system and £13,500 a year for rental of the telecomms link from 22 Whitehall to the Palace of Westminster.

Ministers' Private Offices

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what her Department's policy is on the consumption of alcohol during social occasions held in her private office.

Lynne Featherstone: I refer the hon. Member to the answer provided today by the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, my right hon. Friend the Member for Horsham (Mr Maude).

Procurement

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much and what proportion of her Department’s budget was spent on activities which were contracted out in (a) 2009-10, (b) 2010-11, (c) 2011-12, (d) 2012-13 and (e) 2013-14; and how much and what proportion of her Department’s budget she expects to be contracted out in 2014-15.

Justine Greening: Under this Government’s transparency programme, contracts and future contract pipeline information is published on Contracts Finder which is available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder
	In regards to the proportion of my Department’s contracted spends to overall budget, full copies of the annual accounts are available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?keywords =annual+accounts&publication_filter_option=corporate-reports&topics%5B%5D=all&departments%5B%5D=department -for-international-development&official_document_ status=all &world_locations%5B%5D=all&from_date=&to_date=& commit=Refresh+results

Training

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many away days her Department has held for its officials in (a) 2013 and (b) 2014 to date; and what the cost of each such event has been.

Lynne Featherstone: Information on the number of DFID away days and the costs incurred is not held centrally and precise information is not readily available.
	Away days for Department for International Development (DFID) staff are overwhelmingly undertaken on DFID or other Government Department premises where there is little or no cost involved.

Training

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much her Department has spent on (a) media training and (b) social media training for (i) her and (ii) other Ministers in her Department; and what specific training was provided in each such case.

Lynne Featherstone: DFID operates a decentralised learning and development system and does not hold central records of course attendance or small scale expenditure. DFID publishes all expenditure over £500, which can be found on our website:
	http://www.dfid.gov.uk/About-us/How-we-measure-progress/DFID-spend/
	Producing any other type of report would incur disproportionate costs.

Training

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much has been spent on what (a) media training and (b) social media training for (i) her and (ii) Ministers in her Department since May 2010.

Lynne Featherstone: DFID operates a decentralised learning and development system and does not hold central records of course attendance or small scale expenditure. DFID publishes all expenditure over £500, which can be found on our website at:
	http://www.dfid.gov.uk/About-us/How-we-measure-progress/DFID-spend/
	Producing any other type of report would incur disproportionate costs.